Murdoch wants BSkyB - will he get it?

[Jan Klimkowski]

The PCC acknowledged it had received the complaint and said it was "looking into the matter". The investigation will hinge on whether the use of clandestine methods was justified "in the public interest".

Clause 10.2 of the PCC's editors' code of practice says that "engaging in misrepresentation or subterfuge" can "generally be justified only in the public interest and then only when the material cannot be obtained by other means".

The PCC also believes the secret recording can only be used when there is a "prima facie" likelihood of acquiring information critical for a news report it has in the past ruled against "fishing expeditions" in which journalists hoped to entrap someone into an unfortunate or embarrassing disclosure.

Telegraph reporters posed as constituents of several Lib Dem MPs in December, and used covert recording in an effort to establish whether their private thoughts were in line with their public statements as coalition ministers. No other political party was similarly targeted.

The biggest victim was Vince Cable who told two young female reporters that he had "declared war on Murdoch" which resulted in the business secretary being stripped of his responsibilities for media and telecoms competition issues. However, most of the other revelations were quickly forgotten.

My own view is that the Press Complaints Commission will acknowledge that it was a "fishing expedition". However, because the reporters harpooned a whale, namely a cabinet minister revealing clear and extreme bias ("I've declared war on Murdoch's empire") in a matter where he was the minister with responsiblity for a mutli-billion pound deal, the fishing expedition will be found to be justified.

In fact, the implications of a ruling against the Telegraph would be devastating for investigative journalism. It would mean that a politician's words could not be published in this scenario, and that is wrong.

I'm still angry at Cable. This was pure ego on his part, and failure to take his ministerial responsibilties seriously.