The exposure of the scandalous behavior of the popular press in Britain in hacking into the telephones of people in the news caused such anger that the British prime minister set up a judicial inquiry into standards of behavior in the media.

Lord Justice Leveson was appointed to lead this inquiry, which heard evidence from politicians, newspaper proprietors and editors, policemen and lawyers, as well as members of the public whose privacy had been breached by press intrusion.

Lord Leveson submitted his report on Nov. 29. It was very long and detailed and it is doubtful whether many people have read it in full. But the summaries that have appeared make it clear that reporters for popular papers often behaved illegally with the approval of their editors.