Hugh Grant leads fresh calls for an end to self-regulation of the press

Hugh Grant and some of the country's leading journalism academics, including two former heads of BBC News, have renewed calls for the end of self-regulation of the press as battle lines are drawn ahead of the publication of the Leveson report.

The actor has launched a spirited defense of the Hacked Off campaign which he fronts in the Spectator magazine, claiming he is not out to muzzle the press and would close down the lobby group if he "detected even a bat's squeak of genuine threat to public interest journalism". However, in another Spectator comment piece, former Daily Mail and Daily Express political journalist turned PR Kirsty Walker made the opposite case, warning of the "chilling effects" Lord Justice Leveson's inquiry is already having on newsrooms.