and i agree with what gus o'donald said this morning but i think it's naive of either of us to think you're ever go to change that and actually a part of me says you shouldn't want to change that. particularly in the internet age newspapers have to be able to take strong positions but you think there should be a greater ability for people or organizations to be able to have a come back against them when they are distorting not just fusing facts and comment but actually rin venting to suit i particular agenda. and we had that the whole time. and so did a lot of people in public life. >> i'm just trying to think through this, mr. campbell. when segregating fact from comments and fact of course is -- can be scrutinized now, but there are certain types of comments that you feel ought to be scrutinized either because they may be a key to the motivations of the editors. is that right? alternatively the comments themselves are so distorted they are close to being perverse. and then some might sigh almost factually untrue. is that it? >> yeah. and this is a difficult area. i talked in my fir

and i agree with what gus o'donald said this morning but i think it's naive of either of us to think you're ever go to change that and actually a part of me says you shouldn't want to change that. particularly in the internet age newspapers have to be able to take strong positions but you think there should be a greater ability for people or organizations to be able to have a come back against them when they are distorting not just fusing facts and comment but actually rin venting to suit i particular agenda. and we had that the whole time. and so did a lot of people in public life. >> i'm just trying to think through this, mr. campbell. when segregating fact from comments and fact of course is -- can be scrutinized now, but there are certain types of comments that you feel ought to be scrutinized either because they may be a key to the motivations of the editors. is that right? alternatively the comments themselves are so distorted they are close to being perverse. and then some might sigh almost factually untrue. is that it? >> yeah. and this is a difficult area. i talked in my fir

and i think he's -- as gus o'donald said to you this morning by then i think it was fairly obvious we were probably going to win the election. but i do think by this point this point about the perceived power that people talk of of newspapers that dictate elections, i just don't buy it. the last election david cameron had the endorsement of, you know, virtually all of the newspapers and didn't get a majority. so i think we've got to be careful about this. where i think they have an influence is in the establishment of an overall agenda where the political debate clears out. >> let me just ask you to comment on a paragraph in mr. powell's book, "the new mac ya veli," which is page 190. he's giving his perception of what was happening at this time. "our primary target was rupert murdoch, and tony went out of his way to woo him." would you agree with that? >> i don't like the word woo. but he was certainly the most important media player without a doubt. >> then mr. powell continues, "i had been told by the sunday times correspondent in washington that the american economist and economis

and i totally understand what gus o'donald's saying, but it's really not the role of legislators, let alone an inquiry, to say let's predict what the world's going to be like in ten years and legislate for that. they have to take a decision based upon what's happening now. >> in lord hant's proposals, paragraphs 41 to 43, you make a number of points there. paragraph 41 i paraphrase without obvious carrots it's hard to see what good will and good faith will bring everyone into the sheep pen, as it were. paragraph 43. third line. perfectly possible to have a systems regulation accountability which carried the authority of the government. but independent of government, parliament, commercial-invested interest. and then you furnish us with analogies oof regulatory spheres. and then you have some full authority. what do you say about the word structure? >> what do you mean by that? >> in other words, it's perfectly acceptable to have a system of regulation that structure frt government in part can confer. >> yes. let's take the legal services out leading to the legal services board. i thin

and i agree with what gus o'donald said this morning but i think it's naive of either of us to think you're ever go to change that and actually a part of me says you shouldn't want to change that. particularly in the internet age newspapers have to be able to take strong positions but you think there should be a greater ability for people or organizations to be able to have a come back against them when they are distorting not just fusing facts and comment but actually rin venting to suit i particular agenda. and we had that the whole time. and so did a lot of people in public life. >> i'm just trying to think through this, mr. campbell. when segregating fact from comments and fact of course is -- can be scrutinized now, but there are certain types of comments that you feel ought be scrutinized either because they may be a key to the motivations of the editors. is that right? alternatively the comments themselves are so distorted they are close to being perverse. and then so might sigh almost factually untrue. ishat it? >> yeah. and this is a difficult area. i talked in my first tnes