Disclosure of Media Contacts
Leveson Inquiry · An Inquiry into the Culture, Practices and Ethics of the Press · Issued 29 November 2012 · Addressed to: Politicians
Source — verbatim from the inquiry
●Inquiry recommendation
Party Leaders, Ministers and Front Bench Opposition spokesmen should consider publishing: (a) the simple fact of long term relationships with media proprietors, newspaper editors or senior executives which might be thought to be relevant to their responsibilities and, (b) on a quarterly basis: i. details of all meetings with media proprietors, newspaper editors or senior executives, whether in person or through agents on either side, and the fact and general nature of any discussion of media policy issues at those meetings; and ii. a fair and reasonably complete picture, by way of general estimate only, of the frequency or density of other interaction (including correspondence, phone, text and email) but not necessarily including content.
Leveson Inquiry, An Inquiry into the Culture, Practices and Ethics of the Press · 29 Nov 2012 Source PDF →
Published evidence summary
Publicly available evidence relating to this recommendation:
- These publications include meetings with external organisations (explicitly including "meetings with newspaper and other media proprietors, editors and senior executives"), overseas travel, and gifts and hospitality received, published as both PDF and CSV datasets (GOV.UK, Ministerial transparency data).
- The most recent publication covers October-December 2025, published on 24 March 2026, indicating the government continues to maintain this quarterly publication schedule (GOV.UK, Ministers' transparency publications, March 2026).
- No published evidence that opposition front bench spokespeople publish equivalent data on media contacts has been identified to March 2026.
Response — verbatim from government
●UK Government
The Prime Minister stated on 29 November 2012: "On the Government's behalf I can say that we accept that recommendation" regarding disclosure of interaction between politicians and the press. Ministerial transparency data on meetings with media proprietors, editors, and senior executives has been published quarterly since 2010. Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/david-cameron-statement-in-response-to-the-leveson-inquiry-report
UK Government · 29 Nov 2012 Written response →
Evidence trail — what's actually happened since
- 27 Feb 2025 · Government / Political parties Ministers publish quarterly returns of meetings with media proprietors, editors and senior executives through the Cabinet Office transparency data. However the disclosure is inconsistent and does not fully cover all forms of interaction (texts, informal contact, phone calls) as Leveson recommended. Opposition front bench disclosure is not systematic. View source → Reasonable Progress
Each entry above links to a primary source — gov.uk written statement, consultation response document, or inspection report. The Index does not characterise government intent; it tracks what has been published.
How this page is built
Source and Response are verbatim from primary documents. The Evidence trail records published activity since — written statements, consultation outcomes, inspection findings, parliamentary references. The Index does not paraphrase or characterise intent; it tracks what has been published. Where the evidence is the absence of action (a missed deadline, a slipped timetable), that absence is documented from primary sources rather than inferred.
This recommendation's data is verified periodically against primary sources. The Index is monitored for staleness weekly.