Lords committee told journalists' lobby used to be 'quasi-masonic' but opened up under Major and Campbell

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The House of Lords Communications Committee today heard further evidence on whether the government has improved communications with the press, since the critical Phillis Report (Final Report of the Independent Review of Government Communications) was published four years ago.

A panel of leading political journalists this morning gave evidence to the committee, which was set up to monitor the progress of the disclosure of information between the government and the media.

Today's session was the third hearing since the inquiry began in July to find out if the government's communication system is

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Following the criticism the government received in the Phillis report in 2004, the committee was particularly interested in whether the government had acted on the report's request to make more use of the regional press.

The first panel was made up by Ben Brogan, political editor of the Daily Mail, Steve Richards, columnist at the Independent, and Jackie Ashley, columnist at the Guardian.

The lobby system, which refers to the small group of parliamentary journalists who are given privileged access to certain parts of Parliament, came under question for its purpose, secrecy and different levels of access.

Brogan said that despite 'originally being quasi-masonic, it has opened up under Major, and reforms by Campbell.'

Ashley was in favour of an open lobby system: "I would love to see it on camera, or be able to access it online."

Brogan pointed out that like in the case of the Commons it would become 'more tempting to watch it on TV than to attend'.

The committee questioned the reason for exclusive afternoon briefings, known as the second lobby, which suggested a veil of secrecy.

The press panel defended the second Lobby, stating that most media institutions have people with access to both parts.

Brogan described the Lobby as 'a practical function of formal information without spin', while Ashley said it was not 'a valuable resource as a columnist'.

When questioned about the integrity and accountability of unattributable sources of information, the Independent's Steve Richards quoted Hugo Young: 'the key element to the story is the unattributable source'.

"Sometimes it's the only way to get a politician's a true opinion - if it was open information it would dry up very quickly," added Ashley.

"Often, the politician behind it wants it to happen. If their story is going to get blown out by bigger events they will sometimes leak it earlier so it will receive coverage," she said.

It was put to the panel that government was, at times, partial to certain journalists, and 'unaccountable'.

Richards admitted that 'politicians will always favour certain journalists', but he also suggested it was unrealistic to control, as 'information will always get out in all its different forms'.

"Your access to information depends upon who you know and your position as a journalist," added Brogan.

He felt that, accountability and sensibility was held with the 'trust between the readers, the editor and the politicians'.

Have things improved since the Phillis Report?

The panel of journalists felt there had been a general improvement in regards to the report's suggestion that 'government should embrace the principles of openness not secrecy'.

It felt the Phillis Report had been overtaken by the Freedom of Information Act, though Ashley described the government's attitude as one of 'we are doing you a favour.' There 'still remains a culture of secrecy,' she said.

Richards said the Phillis report was 'naive', and said in reality 'the issue is far more complicated'.

Brogan backed this up concluding: "I'm not quite sure what difference the report has made. It has been overtaken by the fact that the person at the top decides how open they want things to be."

A second session of the committee heard evidence from Bob Ledwidge, editor of regional political programmes at the BBC, David Ottewell, chief reporter at Manchester Evening News and Chris Fisher, political editor of the Eastern Daily Press.

Proceedings can be watched at Parliament TV but a technological problem with the site meant the second session was unavailable at the time of writing.