Prime Minister David Cameron pledged more transparency and better recording of all meetings held with the media.

The PM said he would consult Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O’Donnell about amending the ministerial code “to require ministers to record all meetings with newspaper and other media proprietors, senior editors and executives – regardless of the nature of the meeting.”

According to the BBC, top civil servants and special advisers would also have to record meetings with the media, and the government will not wait for a Freedom of Information request to release it, but rather publish it quarterly.

This comes on the tails of a rapidly developing News of the World phone hacking scandal, which was brought back to the fore after allegations surfaced the newspaper had hacked into telephones belonging to crime victims and soldiers who were killed.

Cameron has outlined the details of the phone-hacking inquiry, which will be led by Lord Justice Leveson, and will involve the culture, practice and ethics of the press, their relationship with the police, as well as re-examine the present media regulations.

The scandal, which is resonating both in international media and in Parliament, has shone the spotlight on the Metropolitan Police, which has been accused of not investigating the phone-hacking case as thoroughly as it could have (a spreadsheet of the dates and meetings between police and NoW have been released on The Guardian website).

It has also questioned politicians’ associations with Rupert Murdoch, the head of News Corporation, and journalists from its newspapers.

Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown’s meetings with the media tycoon have been a subject of public curiosity, but responses to FOI requests have been difficult to get (see previous post).

Cameron, who has also been criticised for not being transparent about his meetings with Murdoch has pledged to open up.

If we are going to say to the police ‘you must be more transparent and cut out corruption’, if we are going to say to the media ‘you must be more transparent and cut out this malpractice’ then, yes, the relationship between politicians and the media must change and we must be more transparent too about meetings.

However, Nick Robinson, BBC political editor, said he did not believe every meeting with every journalist would be recorded, but at least people would be able to see patterns arising between meetings and important decisions.