Sunday Times editor Martin Ivens has issued profound apologies and accepted the cartoon had “crossed a line” – but how do you account for such an instant change of heart? There can only be one explanation and it’s all down to Rupert Murdoch and his tweets.

Old rules, laws and agreements which pre-date the rise, and even the existence of the Internet, are threatening to cause mayhem in both the regional and national newspaper industry, writes Raymond Snoddy

The great thing about the future of the media is that it changes every five minutes. Just when you thought you had finally got a handle on things, everything gets thrown up in the air again, like some sort of media perpetual motion machine.

The real reason why Hacked Off, which has been annoyingly effective over the past year, is angry is that they know in their hearts that they have lost the battle to achieve the full implementation of the Leveson recommendations, in particular the statutory underpinning of a new regulatory body.

One person leaving “next year,” even though Pollard found nothing but managerial “chaos and confusion” among executives when faced with one of the worst crises in the BBC’s history, scarcely seems an appropriate response, says Raymond Snoddy.

All of Britain’s broadcasters, including the BBC, without hesitation broadcast and highlighted the embarrassing call to Jacintha Saldanha without ever presumably pausing to ask whether any permission had been granted. Here’s where the blame should spread wider. Much wider.

Forget all the dodgy opinion polls, petitions and the ceaseless whining of Hacked Off. We have now got to the heart of the matter and there is more than a decent chance that Leveson could, against all the odds, turn out well for both the press and the public, says Raymond Snoddy.

Right at the heart of the matter is a piece of almost medieval theology. This, the dogmatic judge insists, is not statutory regulation, nor could it reasonably or fairly be described as statutory regulation. The judge is wrong. It could and it is – but it has to be made clear in what way.

The Leveson report is just what the BBC needs right now. The Corporation is likely to be only tangentially involved and the attention of the press and the political classes will be engaged for weeks. Under this cover changes can be made and the BBC can prepare for longer term battles.

Preliminary skirmishes are hotting up in the battle for the future of press regulation as Lord Justice Leveson prepares to publish his long-awaited report – and the increasingly bitter salvoes are starting to get very ugly.