Industry experts gathered at Exeter College last week to discuss the impact of the Leveson Inquiry findings on the future of media to an audience of journalism students. Guests included editor Andy Phelan of the Express and Echo, feature writer Simon Trump of the Daily Mail/Sunday Times, Nick Constable of the Mail on Sunday and media lawyer Peter Singfield of Foot Anstey who works regularly for Associated Newspapers.

The session hosted at the college's CCI building highlighted moral, ethical and legal issues raised by the inquiry, which came about after the phone-hacking scandal of the News of the World. Results from the 1st part of the inquiry were published on 29th November 2012 by Lord Justice Leveson and examined the culture, practices and ethics of the press, concluding that some form of regulatory body and legislation (whether independent or statutory) is needed to oversee conduct.

As part of the conference, students from the college's new Journalism Academy were put into teams and given a fictitious scenario. Each scenario involved a moral or ethical dilemma related to the press, such as whether or not to hack a phone to out a criminal. Lawyer Singfield helped the teams by explaining the legalities of such crimes, such as the public interest defense. Students then presented their verdict to the guest panel who then gave their own opinion. There was also the opportunity for students to put questions to the panel in a 'Question Time' style round.

Speakers and students debated the extent at which the current law already protects individuals from the invasion of privacy, such as anti-defamation and libel legislation and agreed that if enforced properly, a new regulatory body would not be needed. Students and speakers highlighted the fact that phone-hacking has always been illegal and so the News of the World scandal shows a failure to enforce such laws. The guests discussed how the inquiry has affected how they operate within their job roles, with all agreeing that much more care is taken over which stories to run and many never see the light of day.

College lecturer and organiser of the event Richard Lappas, who has almost 30 years of experience in the national newspaper industry and as a member of the British Association of Journalists, found the event to be a huge success. “It's an exciting time to be studying journalism as everything is changing. The results of the Leveson inquiry will change the way that media operates and students had a valuable insight about how their careers will be shaped by the recent scandals in the press.”