Invasion of personal privacy, the bribery of police officers and theft of confidential data

This past week, the Leveson report was released in the UK (Inquiry into the Culture, Practices and Ethics of the Press), which in simple terms sets out recommendations for British lawmakers to consider in relation to the phone hacking scandal (invasion of personal privacy, the bribery of police officers and theft of confidential data) by employees at several News International plc newspapers owned and controlled by News Corp, which here in the United States owns the Fox News Channel and The Wall Street Journal.

Contained within the report is the recommendation that the British government should put in place a "self-regulatory board" with the authority to supervise and sanction news media organizations considered to be operating outside of the public interest and/or law.

This proposal has been met with skepticism and in some circles outright condemnation with many pointing out that Britain has enjoyed a press free of supervision for centuries.

The fact remains however, that journalists and operatives hired to procure private and confidential information on targeted individuals by News International newspapers broke the law and above all, betrayed the trust of the British public.

Unfortunately, once again we see the invasion of personal privacy and theft of confidential data, used as a component of doing business by a group of highly educated people (in this case News International employees) all willing to knowingly flout the law in order to obtain  private voice mail messages on individual citizens including a missing (later discovered murdered) teenage school girl.

Perhaps what makes this conduct especially reprehensible, is the fact that it was carried out year-after-year presumably in order to increase sales and in turn profits for a division of a publicly traded media company (News Corp) listed on stock markets around the world.  

Under the circumstances, the Leveson "self-regulatory board" is not only a good idea but essential in order to restore the public (and the worlds) trust in the British newspaper industry.