The former managing editor of The Sun has played down the impact of the phone-hacking scandal on the “vast majority” of people in the UK – but claimed it has become ‘all consuming’for the ‘media bubble’typified by Sky News and the Media Guardian.
Graham Dudman, who was made editorial development director of News International in June, said there were ‘very serious issues’facing the media but said The Sun’s circulation had been unaffected by the phone-hacking scandal that led to the closure of its sister title the News of the World.
‘I think for the vast majority of the people in this country there are other things to worry about than this issue,’he told BBC Radio Four’s The Media Show.
He added: ‘But for media land – for those in the media bubble – of course it’s all consuming. But out there, outside the world of Sky News, the Media Guardian… frankly ‘Have I got a job? and ‘How much am I getting paid next week?’ is of more importance.”
Daily Mirror editor Richard Wallace told the show that the the key challenge for the press was to ‘reassure the public that we’re not broken”.
While criminality had gone on in ‘certain sections of the media’it was not ‘widespread in any way shape or form”, he said.
Asked whether he felt his paper was under the microscope since the hacking scandal he replied: ‘Absolutely. I think the whole industry is – particularly the tabloid press, although I don’t think this is all about the tabloids, however much some of the other members of my trade have painted that.”
Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog
