Hold another Inquiry!

The long-suffering Lord Justice Leveson continues to be misrepresented by the media, as “Lord Leveson”  in newspapers, by the broadcasters, in the ethical vacuum. So it seemed timely to give this post a re-airing (first published in Jan 2012).

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“Don’t start me on the subject of misrepresented titles or names. I suffer that to this day, but there it is.”

That was Lord Justice Leveson on 20 December 2011, as noted in this year’s Inforrm media law quiz, won by Benjamin Pell.

It’s rather a bugbear to Lord Justice Leveson, who said in his opening remarks to the Inquiry:

“Although flattered that various politicians and members of the press have elevated me to the rank of peerage, I am not Lord Leveson: my judicial rank is that of a Lord Justice of Appeal.”

Legal titles can be a complete headache to get right (and it doesn’t help when members of the judiciary are actually called ‘Judge’) but for the record and legal pedantry’s sake, it’s not Lord Leveson even if Google thinks it is.

Many publications have been getting it wrong, including the Guardian, which noted back in November 2011:

“Not for the first time, the judge who is leading an inquiry into phone hacking was referred to as Lord Leveson. As noted in this column on 29 and 30 September, Brian Leveson sits on the court of appeal and has the title lord justice, but is not a peer …”

But can Leveson really expect the papers to get it right when his own Inquiry site has mis-captioned him! (Hover over his pic here & you’ll see!)