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Celebrity magazine editors give evidence to Leveson

18/01/2012

Editors from three top-selling magazines have given evidence to the Leveson Inquiry this morning.Lucie Cave from Heat, Hello! co-editor Rosie Nixon and Lisa Byrne of OK! were jointly questioned on celebrity stories, privacy and regulation.All three editors agreed that private lives were not "open season", even if a celebrity has previously agreed to be in a magazine.Rosie Nixon told the inquiry she would not publish information about a celebrity if they claimed it was untrue and "trusting relationships" were key to the running of her magazine.Cave was asked about a PCC complaint made by Katie Price after Heat published a sticker set including a picture of her son with a caption attached, which she claimed mocked his disability.Cave was not editor at the time but said: "Everyone is mortified by that incident".She was also asked about pictures of Simon Cowell on a private yacht printed in the magazine, and said the paper had a good relationship with him and he "enjoyed his celebrity lifestyle".Byrne was asked by inquiry counsel about an interviews with Sienna Miller printed in OK! claiming to be "exclusive", when in fact taken from other sources. An apology was issued to Miller on the magazine's website. She said a recent front page of the magazine depicting the Duchess of Cambridge was not purposefully misleading.She said she was not aware whether an offer of an exclusive interview with OK! was made to the McCanns as a "bargaining tool", when questioned over evidence they gave to the inquiry last year, and said the magazine had independent content from other Northern & Shell publications.On corrections, Cave said Heat had only received eight complaints in 14 years. Byrne revealed that OK! only had a "handful" of readers' complaints and published approximately two apologies a year. Nixon said she was not aware any complaints under her editorship.Lord Justice Leveson suggested that a register of celebrities could be an option, ensuring the privacy of publicity-shy figures.Byrne said it could be overused while Nixon said it could be "useful for future reference".The Hello! editor also said she worried about "over-regulation" of the press, and the magazine industry should be better represented in a new system.Byrne said despite being outside the PCC, OK! works within the code and her relationship with the body had been "good" in the past.

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