Heat, Hello! and OK! editors justify royal coverage at Leveson Inquiry

Cover story: a front page of OK! magazine which appeared to trail a story about the Duchess of Cambridge and her husband, was, in fact, referring to an interview with actress Joan Collins
13 April 2012

Three showbusiness magazine editors today defended themselves against accusations that they publish misleading celebrity stories to attract readers.

Lisa Byrne of OK! was questioned at the Leveson inquiry over this week's edition, which featured apparently confusing front page items on Catherine Middleton.

The long-serving editor was asked under oath about the headline: "Duchess of Cambridge celebrates her 30th Birthday". The words appeared directly above a smaller heading which said: "My Husband Is My Soulmate - World Exclusive" - which actually referred to an interview with Joan Collins.

Inside the magazine, Ms Byrne admitted, she had published little "detail" of the private birthday party and admitted it was all "speculation". Defending herself against accusations of misleading coverage, she replied: "I do feel in this day and age that I will protect the magazine because it is my baby and I love it so much. All magazines and newspapers have, to an extent, to sell their paper but without crossing a barrier."

She later agreed with counsel to the inquiry Catrine Patry-Hoskins that the front page was "drawing people in, without being misleading".

Rosie Nixon, editor of Hello!, admitted her magazine was wrong to publish what it described as a "rare and exclusive interview" with JK Rowling in 2001. In reality, the piece was from material the Harry Potter author had given to Comic Relief. Ms Nixon, who was not editor at the time, said: "It was clearly misleading."

Lucie Cave, editor of Heat magazine, apologised on behalf of her title for publishing a sticker of glamour model Katie Price's disabled son Harvey in 2007, featuring his head next to the words "Harvey wants to eat me".

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