On Monday the PCC said there was 'no evidence' that anyone beyond former NotW royal editor Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire was involved in hacking into mobile phone voicemail accounts.
The supposed media regulator was responding to stories written by Nick Davies published in the Guardian in July, which alleged that the Sunday tabloid misled the PCC during its inquiry into the scandal and that the practice was still widespread.
The PCC said that it had received a 'significant number of on the record statements' contrary to that position and had 'seen no new evidence to suggest that the practice of phone message tapping was undertaken by others beyond Goodman and Mulcaire, or evidence that News of the World executives knew about Goodman and Mulcaire's activities'.
Read the report in full.
But the PCC ruling and insistence that the information commissioner was noting an improvement in journalists' compliance with the Data Protection Act has angered Mr Davies and the paper he freelances for.
In an editorial the Guardian said: 'The PCC performs a valuable function as a mediator. To call it a 'regulator' increasingly looks misleading. Credible regulators have teeth.'
Mr Davies, who initially claimed the NotW had paid £1 million in out-of-court settlements about the phone-tapping, said the PCC had ignored key evidence given to a select committee also investigating the issue.
He said 6,000 people had their voicemail message hacked or intercepted, including Princes William and Harry.
'The PCC may yet discover that the only real victim of its attack is its own credibility,' he said.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4, Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger described the PCC's report as 'worse than pointless'.
The Commons culture, media and sport committee is soon expected to issue a more aggressive report into the phone-hacking allegations.
The supposed media regulator was responding to stories written by Nick Davies published in the Guardian in July, which alleged that the Sunday tabloid misled the PCC during its inquiry into the scandal and that the practice was still widespread.
The PCC said that it had received a 'significant number of on the record statements' contrary to that position and had 'seen no new evidence to suggest that the practice of phone message tapping was undertaken by others beyond Goodman and Mulcaire, or evidence that News of the World executives knew about Goodman and Mulcaire's activities'.
Read the report in full.
But the PCC ruling and insistence that the information commissioner was noting an improvement in journalists' compliance with the Data Protection Act has angered Mr Davies and the paper he freelances for.
In an editorial the Guardian said: 'The PCC performs a valuable function as a mediator. To call it a 'regulator' increasingly looks misleading. Credible regulators have teeth.'
Mr Davies, who initially claimed the NotW had paid £1 million in out-of-court settlements about the phone-tapping, said the PCC had ignored key evidence given to a select committee also investigating the issue.
He said 6,000 people had their voicemail message hacked or intercepted, including Princes William and Harry.
'The PCC may yet discover that the only real victim of its attack is its own credibility,' he said.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4, Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger described the PCC's report as 'worse than pointless'.
The Commons culture, media and sport committee is soon expected to issue a more aggressive report into the phone-hacking allegations.
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