Welcome to the Leveson inquiry live blog.
The seventh week of the inquiry is dedicated to newspapers and starts with a day devoted to present and former Sun executives including the editor Dominic Mohan, and his best-known predecessor, Kelvin MacKenzie.
Two other former editors of the Sun – David Yelland and Stuart Higgins – have submitted witness statements to the inquiry which may be referred to today.
The paper's showbiz editor, Gordon Smart, royal editor Duncan Larcombe and lawyer Justin Walford, who legals Sun reporters' copy, will also be giving evidence. Simon Toms, the interim legal director at News International, has also submitted a witness statement.
Please note that comments have been switched off for legal reasons.
The inquiry could be in for a lively start to the new year. Kelvin MacKenzie, former Sun editor and critic of Lord Justice Leveson's inquiry, will give evidence first, the BBC's Ross Hawkins has just tweeted:
Told Kelvin MacKenzie is first up at #Leveson. Proceedings start at 1000
Lisa O'Carroll, our media reporter down at the Royal Courts of Justice, has just emailed: "Kelvin Mackenzie is up first. In October he told a Leveson seminar that the inquiry was a bad idea so it will be interesting to see what he says today."
You can follow Lisa on Twitter at @lisaocarroll; Dan Sabbagh and Roy Greenslade will also be tweeting later from the inquiry.
Here are profiles of today's key witnesses:
Kelvin MacKenzie
The former editor of the Sun, Kelvin MacKenzie worked at the sharp end of tabloid journalism for more than 20 years until he left the News International red-top in the early 1990s. During MacKenzie's 13-year editorship of the Sun from 1981, he was a cheerleader for Margaret Thatcher's controversial reforms, the Falklands war and her battle with the National Union of Mineworkers. But since then his tenure at the paper has become overshadowed by his controversial Hillsborough splash in 1989 that wrongly claimed Liverpool fans "picked the pockets" of some of the 96 victims of the tragedy and urinated on medics. MacKenzie's post-Sun career has included a brief stint at Sky, working for Mirror Group Newspapers, where he ran Live TV and introduced the "news bunny", and boss of TalkSport for several years. More recently, he was a Sun columnist before switching to the Daily Mail last year, has already come to blows with the inquiry, describing it as "ludicrous" before later apologising for his typically robust remarks at a seminar organised by Lord Justice Leveson's team in the autumn on the newspaper industry's practices and ethics. In his submission to the same seminar, MacKenzie recounted how when editor of the Sun he checked a story about Elton John, which turned out to be false, with the paper's news editor, legal director and two reporters prior to publication. "And four months later the Sun was forced to pay out record £1m libel damages to Elton John for wholly untrue rent-boy allegations," he said. "So much for checking a story. I never did it again. Basically my view was that if it sounded right it was probably right and therefore we should lob it in."
Dominic Mohan
The former showbiz reporter turned editor of the Sun, Mohan joined the paper from the News of the World in 1996. He was the chosen successor to Rebekah Brooks as Sun editor in 2009 when she became News International chief executive. At a Leveson inquiry seminar in October, the Sun editor likened showbiz journalism to the world of lobby hacks in Westminster. "The way showbiz journalists operate is like a political journalist in the lobby," he said, adding that he faces pressure as part of his "own professional pride" to produce a fun and informative daily newspaper.
Gordon Smart
Smart is editor of the Sun's showbiz column, Bizarre, which he joined as deputy to former editor Victoria Newton in 2004. Rebekah Brooks made Smart editor of the diary column in November 2007, when Newton became the paper's head of entertainment. Smart was tipped as a future Sun editor when Dominic Mohan became the fifth Bizarre editor to take the helm at the paper in 2009. Smart started his career in journalism in his native Scotland, as a junior reporter at two local papers.
It appears the official Leveson video feed is having technical problems. Lisa O'Carroll has emailed with the day's running order: "Order is Kelvin [MacKenzie], Gordon Smart, Duncan Larcombe and then Dominic [Mohan]".
The hearing has now begun. Lord Justice Leveson is running through a few "housekeeping issues" before the day's evidence begins.
The judicial review of anonymity for Leveson whistleblowers is to be heard later this week, says Leveson.
Lord Justice Leveson says it will not be possible to continue the inquiry's approach of witnesses submitting written evidence supplemented by oral evidence.
Given the constraints of time, he says, some witnesses will submit only written evidence from now on. Only written evidence from witnesses that requires "oral elaboration" will be heard in court.
Leveson says he is still waiting for a review from the Met police on what happened to Milly Dowler's voicemail messages. The inquiry has received a submission from the Guardian, and expects to receive one shortly from the Met.
Robert Jay QC is now raising a report published by the Times last week. The report alleged that Jay told Neville Thurlbeck before he gave evidence that the News of the World was "nothing but smut". Jay says this is inaccurate.
"Mr Thurlbeck's recollection is incorrect [and the view attributed to me] is not one I hold," Jay says. "I do not recall stating, as the Times reports, that I could not understand why anyone would read the News of the World."
Jay says he may have said "nothing but smut" but specifically in reference to a News of the World story about a couple who allegedly owned a swingers' hotel.
Leveson inquiry: Kelvin MacKenzie
Lord Justice Leveson adds that he is receiving cuttings of all coverage of his inquiry, mentioning Private Eye magazine.
"I am minded to put this coverage into the public record … as further evidence is coming to light," Leveson says.
Kelvin MacKenzie has taken the witness stand.
Robert Jay QC, counsel for the inquiry, is asking MacKenzie about passages from his witness statement.
Asked by Jay whether he had any regard for privacy while editor of the Sun, MacKenzie says: "Not really, no."
MacKenzie says he stands by his comments about "lobbing" claims into the paper "if they sound right". He says he deliberately used the phrase, and avoided describing it as "chucking things in". "We thought about it and then put it in," he says.
MacKenzie says "there is no certainty in journalism". "If you take my bullish approach to journalism, which is the First Amendment approach taken in America … [the freedom of speech approach]. I did 13 years as editor of the Sun. When I left that attitude changed. [my successors] were more cautious and probably right to be more cautious … At the end of the day you are a commercial offering. If the atmosphere towards what you're doing is different from before then you must change with it."
He says when he left the Sun he was probably "less bullish" in his attitude towards journalism.
Elton John received a £1m payout from the Sun while Kelvin MacKenzie was editor. Photograph: BBC/Redferns
MacKenzie is being asked about the Sun's £1m libel payout to Elton John. He says Rupert Murdoch was not pleased and gave him 40 minutes of "non-stop abuse" in a telephone call over the issue.
"The Sun was a much more important aspect of his [Murdoch's] worldwide assets in the 1980s than it is today. Therefore his interest in the Sun was much more hands on," he says.
MacKenzie and Murdoch spoke almost every day and the proprietor had a "general sense about whether he liked the paper or not".
MacKenzie says of Murdoch: "I think he sometimes thought we may lose too many friends [with the paper's coverage]."
MacKenzie claims the attitude of ethics and legality differs depending on which paper the offending story is published by. "If you publish it in the Sun you get six months' jail and if you publish it in the Guardian you get a Pulitzer prize," he says.
The inquiry has been interrupted by a member of the public shouting, "Ask him about Michael Stone."
After the man tells Leveson he has written the inquiry a long letter, the judge asks him to leave.
MacKenzie continues with his opinions on certain papers. "People view the Sun at the bottom of the pile and for as long as it exists I think they view papers like the Guardian as the top of the pile," he says.
MacKenzie says the Sun "would have come very very very close to being shut down" if that newspaper had "got the Milly Dowler story wrong", referring to the Guardian correction before Christmas on deletions of her voicemail messages.
Leveson says that it's an "interesting assertion" that the Guardian got the Dowler story "completely wrong".
MacKenzie says that the Sun did not pay police officers for information "as far as I know".
Jay asks if MacKenzie is aware of payments to police officers. He replies: "I wasn't but it wouldn't surprise me if they were."
MacKenzie claims journalists don't have to pay police officers most of the time because they want to see certain information in the public domain.
MacKenzie says it's "not an unknown way of doing business" in which somebody is paid to get an ex-directory number.
He adds that the Sun has been more cautious under the editorship of Rebekah Brooks and current editor Dominic Mohan, who will give evidence this afternoon.
Anne Diamond. Photograph: Karen Robinson for the Guardian
Robert Jay QC is now asking MacKenzie about the famous Sun front page of Anne Diamond at her son's funeral, which she told the inquiry was an intrusion into her privacy.
"She chose to say that she had had a conversation with Mr Murdoch at some do or other at which she said something like 'how can you sleep at night'," says MacKenzie.
MacKenzie says Murdoch has never instructed him to "go after someone", contrary to what Diamond implied at the end of last year.
"I've never heard him say go after somebody in any circumstances – whether it's the PM or a fading breakfast show host," MacKenzie says.
MacKenzie says Diamond invited two senior executives from the Sun to Birmingham to discuss details of the paper's coverage of her son's death. "I have met her on two or three occasions since then and she has never said she was forced into doing anything," he says.
He says he cannot recall receiving a letter from Diamond 20 years ago "begging [MacKenzie] to stay away" from her son's funeral. MacKenzie says he cannot be expected to recall receiving the letter because the Sun editor's office is an "hourly sprawl and general rioting".
He says newspaper editors do not think in terms of selling more copies, but of improving the paper. "That picture and the five-year campaign against cot death contributed to a climate in which a lot of people had guilt removed from the top of their heads," MacKenzie adds.
MacKenzie describes Diamond as a "devalued witness" and is complaining about being asked to recall conversations from two decades ago. "They seem to remember conversations 20 years ago; I don't," he says.
"Why should everyone accept what she says and not accept my version of events?," MacKenzie asks.
"If she [Anne Diamond] felt as strongly as she appeared to feel at Leveson you would have thought 20 years earlier she would have been massively hostile to us, and she wasn't," MacKenzie says.
MacKenzie is now being asked about his relationship with politicians while he was editor. He saw then PM Margaret Thatcher about twice a year, he says, and other cabinet ministers about half a dozen times a year. "If you know politicians the idea was for them to explain what geniuses they are to you," he says.
He adds:
I was always astonished that the prime minister would want to meet a tabloid editor with one GCSE. I always struggled to see what the equivalence was in that.
Jay says MacKenzie is downplaying his own importance at the time, pointing out that the Sun was Britain's biggest-selling daily newspaper.
"I don't doubt that," says MacKenzie, referring to the influence held by Sun editors.
MacKenzie is being asked for his recommendations on press regulation.
"In the end newspapers are commercial animals; they try to make money. I would be in favour of fines – and heavy fines for newspapers that don't disclose the truth to the Press Complaints Commission," he says.
He says News International should have been forced to pay a "commercial penalty" for "lying" to the PCC about phone hacking.
"I think the threat of financial penalty will have a straightforward effect on newspapers … no editor, no proprietor would dream of lying under those circumstances," MacKenzie says.
Asked about his relationship with the former Tory prime minister John Major in the early 1990s, MacKenzie says: "No, we did not have a particularly good relationship. He was no Thatcher, John Major."
MacKenzie confirms that he told Major in a phone call that he was going to "throw a bucket full of shit" over him in the next day's paper following the UK's exit from the Exchange Rate Mechanism in 1992.
Lord Justice Leveson asks MacKenzie about the importance of getting facts right.
MacKenzie says:
… both law and journalism are in the uncertainty business.
The judge brings up the case of Easter Island nuclear test victims. He says MacKenzie said in an inquiry seminar that "by turning your back on an explosion you'll avoid radiation".
Leveson says that was an ascertainable fact, published in court rulings, and MacKenzie "got it wrong".
MacKenzie says: "There is no absolute truth in any newspaper and there is no absolute truth in any court."
Leveson replies: "I agree."
MacKenzie continues: "Journalists try to get things right. People tell you lies. People think it's the truth … it is a massively difficult problem particularly being a print journalist today."
Leveson says "that's not an excuse for not having a go" at getting to the truth.
Leveson inquiry: Gordon Smart
The inquiry has now finished asking MacKenzie questions.
David Sherborne, counsel for Anne Diamond and a number of other high-profile witnesses, questions MacKenzie's evidence about what Diamond told the inquiry. MacKenzie says he knows Rupert Murdoch better than the media mogul's former butler, who appeared in a Channel 4 documentary about the case.
Gordon Smart, the Sun's showbiz editor, has now taken the stand.
Smart says he still in effect edits the Bizarre column, but is officially the Sun's showbiz editor.
Smart says he has six staff on Bizarre who present him with a list of their news stories for the day. He will then present these stories to the editor, Dominic Mohan, and other Sun executives.
He says he will sometimes consult the PCC prior to publication if he thinks a story "rings alarm bells".
Smart says during his time at the paper he has tried to improve relations with celebrities.
He is asked about payments for news tips and Smart says he requires the authorisation of a line manager or the editor. He will reassure his superiors about the sourcing of stories, Smart says.
Smart says he is "fiercely proud" of his Sun colleagues, who are "good, professional people".
He adds that he rarely publishes stories without corroboration and that colleagues will help him stand stories up if they have good contacts.
Asked about privacy, Smart says: "It's a balancing act between the public interest and an individual's right to privacy. There is a grey area there and we walk that line every day and think we get it right more than we get it wrong."
Smart says he will weigh up the public interest of stories before publishing. He says "hypocrisy" of celebrities would be one public interest justification. He adds that the celebrities have to have done something other than being a celebrity.
Smart says that some of his work is "trivial", given the nature of celebrity, but that he has also written about serious issues, including rape and domestic violence.
"I think we take it very seriously that we act responsibly at all times," he adds.
Smart is asked about intrusion into grief.
He says: "One thing we have now with showbiz reporters is that we are accountable straight away with Twitter, as soon as the paper hits the newsstand."
Smart says that reporters are under more pressure to hit deadlines with the advent of social media, including Twitter and Facebook.
"The way we are in newspapers at the moment it is a big consideration with social networking," he says, adding that he takes some Twitter comments "with a pinch of salt".
Smart says he has heard it mentioned that working for the Sun is like being centre forward for Manchester United; "if you don't score you'll get the hairdryer treatment and get dropped".
He adds that he feels a pressure to secure exclusives because of this.
Smart says the Sun will corroborate stories to see if they stand up, either directly via the celebrity involved or through other sources.
Smart says all of Bizarre's lead stories will be checked out but they might not "put calls in" for some of the smaller stories, noting that Bizarre publishes about 10 stories a day. "I'm a reporter and editor … there's a lot of material that passes through," he says.
Hugh Grant. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA
Smart is asked about a Sun story reporting that Hugh Grant had been admitted to hospital.
The journalist replies: "I'm not passing the buck … I handled it very sensitively, sent it through to the editor … it appeared on page 3 as six-par story. It was probably least important story on that page."
Jay argues that it was "an entirely private matter" but Smart says that "because he's one of the most famous actors in the country we have a duty to report that to our readers".
Smart agrees that it was Grant's "level of celebrity" that tipped the balance in favour of publication.
Smart is being asked about evidence of Chris Atkins, the Starsuckers director who attempted to dupe the Sun's Bizarre column into running false stories.
Two stories ended up in the Sun that were false, Jay says, but Smart disagrees that they were entirely wrong.
Smart says his team regularly receives prank phone calls and emails, including from Radio 1 DJ Scott Mills.
Guy Ritchie. Photograph: Tim Whitby/Getty Images
Robert Jay asks Smart about two stories involving Girls Aloud star Sarah Harding and film director Guy Ritchie.
Smart says he finds it "incredible" he is being asked about whether a story that Ritchie injured himself juggling cutlery in a restaurant was properly checked.
"It is bizarre – it's the name of the column," Smart quips.
Leveson inquiry: Duncan Larcombe
Asked about phone hacking at the Sun, Smart says he has "no knowledge" that it ever took place.
Asked about phone hacking at the News of the World, he says: "I didn't observe that, no."
Smart was at the NoW briefly in 2003 and 2004.
The inquiry is having a short break.
Duncan Larcombe, the Sun's royal editor, has taken the stand.
Larcombe was appointed royal editor in January 2011. Prior to that he was defence editor and royal correspondent at the Sun, which he joined in 2002.
Larcombe says the Sun and Buckingham Palace generally "get on well".
He says the culture of the Sun has not significantly changed in the 10 years since he's been at the paper. "It's younger, it feels more like a younger newsroom now, but culturally it's still a great place to work," he says.
"The culture at the Sun has been an obsession with getting stories right and I don't think that's changed at all," he adds.
Larcombe says he has no knowledge of phone hacking at the Sun.
Larcombe says he has never been in direct contact with the PCC because that would be the managing editor's job. He adds that his first port of call would be the press offices of either Buckingham Palace or Clarence House.
"If I've got an exclusive story about the royals I will check that out every time," he says. "It's important with royal stories that you get it 100% right."
He adds: "If we get royal stories wrong then the readers may well be on the prince's side rather than ours."
Larcombe says after the convictions of Clive Goodman and Glenn Mulcaire for phone hacking all Sun staff were told "if any of us act in that way then we'd be out of the door". He says that briefing would probably have come from the head of news at the time.
He adds: "There were rumours that the 'dark arts' … happens because journalists like to gossip about each other but certainly there were no rumours about it happening at the Sun. Not phone hacking stuff, just the dark arts.
"I'm massively surprised about some of the stuff that has come out … about the News of the World and the scale of it and people who have been targeted."
The News International chief executive, Tom Mockridge, will give evidence to the Leveson inquiry next week, Robert Jay QC confirms.
Larcombe is asked about photographs of the royal family. He says the Sun was offered photographs of the royals stolen from Pippa Middleton's car. The tipsters, who later pleaded guilty to stealing the photos, wanted £25,000 for the material.
He claims the Sun doesn't publish "more than 50%" of paparazzi photographs of the royal family, over concerns about intrusion into privacy and breaches of the PCC code. He adds that Clarence House are "pretty reasonable people" and will not put the paper under undue pressure not to run certain pictures.
He describes the internet as "the elephant in the room" which is creating a new market for royal pictures that have been rejected by mainstream news outlets.
Larcombe notes that every member of the public "is a potential paparazzo" these days because of camera phones, adding that Prince Harry has little to no privacy "unless he's hiding in one of his castles".
Larcombe distances himself from the "lob it in" school of journalism mentioned earlier today by Kelvin MacKenzie.
"If I had elected to just lob the story in I frankly would be lucky to have a job even in Tescos," Larcombe says. "It just doesn't work like that on royal stories and frankly it doesn't work like that on Fleet Street any more."
Larcombe says he has had experience of being lied to by celebrity agents and he's pleased he doesn't have to deal with them any more. "If you can't trust celebrity agents then I don't even know why people bother ringing them," he adds.
He says that the Palace know if they can't object on the grounds of the PCC then they will accept that the royals are in the public interest. He adds that it's "quite rare" the paper will run stories in defiance of Clarence House.
Larcombe has now finished giving evidence.
Leveson inquiry: John Edwards
Sun picture editor John Edwards has now taken the stand.
He joined the Sun in 1992 and became picture editor in 2000.
Edwards says the Sun gets offered 15,000 to 20,000 pictures a week, from news wires and members of the public.
He says he trusts the news wires – AP, AFP, Press Association – and has worked with them for years without any problems.
Edwards says paparazzi photographers are effectively self-employed freelancers. "I do think paparazzi is not a great name – we all think of it as a nasty word – but they are effectively freelance photographers," he adds.
The Sun has five staff and 20 regular freelance photographers.
Edwards mentions pictures of a heavily pregnant Lily Allen shopping in London.
Even though Allen appeared happy in the pictures it turned out – after a conversation with her agent – that she did not want them to be published so they weren't.
Edwards says if there are concerns about how a photograph was obtained then the paper will ring the agency behind the material.
He adds that he cannot recall any complaints made about Sun photographers while he has been picture editor.
Edwards says there is a handful of celebrities – including Sienna Miller – that the Sun will avoid using pictures of because of their previous experience at the hands of paparazzi.
The legal department or the managing editor's office will inform the picture editor if a celebrity has been the victim of harassment.
Edwards says there is a "huge market" abroad and on the internet that encourages unwitting photos of celebrities to be taken.
The written evidence of Kelvin MacKenzie, Gordon Smart, Duncan Larcombe and John Edwards has now been published on the inquiry website.
Edwards says that the Sun's photographer outside the house of Ting Lan Hong, the mother of Hugh Grant's child, left before the PCC got in touch.
"We weren't harassing him; we weren't harassing her. We were simply there. We were there in an attempt to capture a happy photograph of Grant and his girlfriend [posing with the child]," Edwards says.
"It's a difficult line to walk," he adds, referring to public interest and intrusion into privacy.
Edwards says he will always check to see if a celebrity looks uncomfortable with photographs being taken.
Asked again about the Lily Allen photograph, he says the fact that Allen was heavily pregnant at the time tipped the balance against publication.
Back on the Hugh Grant photographs, he says there were "no visible signs of distress" from Grant or Hong so the Sun felt there was no reason to contact Grant's agent.
Edwards is asked about press intrusion alleged by Kate and Gerry McCann.
"I'm a dad of a little girl who was seven at the time," he says. "I felt tremendous sympathy with the McCanns … Looking back on it now I don't think it was right that Mrs McCann had to drive through that crowd of photgraphers and TV cameras."
He is referring to the ambush of paparazzi that greeted the McCanns on their arrival back in Leicestershire shortly after Madeleine disappeared.
"We got it spot on in Portugal," he says, "but we may not have been so good when it came back to Leicestershire, no."
He suggests in any other such case the number of TV cameras and photographers allowed to attend events should be limited.
Edwards has finished his evidence and the inquiry has broken for lunch. The hearing will resume at 2.15pm.
Kelvin MacKenzie's witness statement is worth reading in full. You can read the full document below, but here's a choice extract: "I do hope that this is not seeking to impose [rules on ethics] to print journalism – that would be bloody funny to watch."
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The hearing has resumed and Justin Walford, legal manager of News Group Newspapers, is giving evidence.
Walford says there is a "small difference" in cultures between the Daily Express – where he once worked – and the Sun. He says the analogy with Manchester United – on the pressure to achieve and secure exclusives – fits at the Sun, but is careful not to demean the Express.
He adds that there is now a "much more professional" attitude on Fleet Street to legal issues at newspapers.
Walford says he used to "libel read" news stories produced at Kelvin MacKenzie's Sun and could see the "lobbing" in of articles at the time, but says that has since changed.
Walford says celebrity issues are a major part of his work at the Sun, but that it's "not everything".
Asked about the Human Rights Act, Walford says the real impact on the press was after the Naomi Campbell judgment in the House of Lords. "There were not a huge number of privacy complaints [in 2002/2003]," he says. "But claimants' solicitors picked up the baton very definitely after that judgment. There was a wheel beginning to turn faster and faster as privacy became more important."
If the Sun's lawyer makes remarks about stories "there's not going to be a huge discussion about it", Walford says. He adds that he will deal with the major legal issues but not every single story in the next day's paper.
He describes it as making a risk assessment – not as having an editorial role – on which the editor takes the ultimate decision on whether the story is worth the risk.
Walford says nearly all of the time his advice will be accepted by the top editorial team. There will be times when an editor decides to take that risk, he says.
"The editor's not just making a decision about the story as a whole … but about particular paragraphs or whether to put a photograph in," he adds.
Robert Jay QC, counsel to the inquiry, is asking Walford about prior notification and the Max Mosley case.
Walford says prior notification is "absolutely correct journalism" and that libel problems can be avoided if the newspaper informs "the other side" about an article before it is published.
Walford says last year the Sun had "quite a number" of privacy injunctions because of prior notification. He adds that he has no complaint about "the duty judge system", whereby an on-duty judge will hear the case for an injunction at any time of day.
"I think it is undoubtedly true among some celebrities … that some agents will put a story around to kill your story, that certainly is a perception … and that would add to a reason not to go to them," he says.
Walford says journalists in the past should have been given better legal training.
Asked about phone-hacking rumours following the arrest of Clive Goodman and Glenn Mulcaire, Walford says he was told that it wasn't going on at the Sun and he would be "very surprised" if that turned out to be wrong.
"I was very concerned that it should not have happened," he said. "I did ask people who I thought would know and I was assured that it [phone hacking] hadn't [taken place at the Sun] … I can say on oath to you that I have never seen anything at the Sun to suggest it was happening."
Walford says that a full audit trail of every piece of legal advice given about stories does not exist because of the nature of the job. He says many decisions will be taken late in the evening standing by the backbench of the newspaper, without anyone taking notes or minutes.
Lord Justice Leveson appears interested in creating a way of recording legal advice and decisions made at newspapers.
Walford mentions "practical problems" with that, but nothing that could not be overcome.
Walford has concluded his evidence and the inquiry is breaking for 15 minutes.
Sun editor Dominic Mohan has taken the stand.
Lord Justice Leveson notes that he was the first of the editors who allowed him into the newsroom.
Mohan has edited the Sun for two years and four months. He joined the Sun in 1996 and was formerly editor of its Bizarre column.
Mohan says the PCC has given Sun staff workshops a number of times, adding that the managing editor will usually take care of these training sessions.
He says almost every day there will be back-and-forth between the PCC and the Sun.
Mohan says Sun staff will be advised on use of language on issues such as suicide, HIV/Aids, Gypsies and Travellers later this year.
A new system on payments to sources, requiring four signatures from managers, was put in place in September 2011, following events at the News of the World.
"We just thought it would be good governance … following what happened at the News of the World," says Mohan.
Mohan says that the online staffer who published the wrong Amanda Knox verdict last year was reprimanded for a "slip in standards".
Mohan says the Sun receives about 2,000 or 3,000 emails from the public a week. During the riots he says he described a "teaching assistant" as a teacher in a headline and got a number of complaints from readers. "I noted that and won't do it again," he says.
Mohan reveals that the Sun is considering appointing an independent ombudsman to deal with complaints from readers.
"I was having discussions with senior executives recently about whether to appoint an independent ombudsman and that's still in discussion," he says. "I think it could be useful in terms of internal self-regulation … in terms of dealing with complaints without them going to the PCC I think it could be useful."
Mohan says the Sun managing editor's office will deal with the PCC and may deal with legal issues and budgets. "If we're over budget it will issue edicts to cut back here, cut back there," he adds.
Rupert Murdoch. Photograph: Sipa Press/Rex Features
Asked about James Murdoch, Mohan says: "I see him from time to time but he doesn't really have involvement withe paper on a daily basis."
On Rupert Murdoch, Mohan says sometimes he will hear from him several times a week and others it will not be for a month. He says Murdoch was very interested in the John Terry race row and the Sun's iPad app and online traffic. Mohan says Murdoch is "annoyed at how long it [the iPad app] takes him to download".
Asked if Rupert Murdoch has influence over editorial content, Mohan says: "No, he's never tried to interfere."
Mohan says he hasn't to his knowledge used private detectives during his time at the Sun. He says he has used "search agents" but adds: "I wouldn't describe them as private detectives."
Mohan adds that Sun journalists are allowed to use legitimate "search agents", but can only use private detectives with the approval of the chief executive officer. Search agents will scour public documents and legal databases, says Mohan.
Mohan says he will often ask where a story came from and whether the sources have a good track record.
He will also take a close involvement on issues involving the PCC and potential legal points. "A lot of my working day is spent having these discussions," he says.
Mohan's statement has now been published on the Leveson website.
Mohan tells Leveson: "At the moment it feels almost every story has to be considered in terms of the Bribery Act, privacy, the PCC."
He adds that Sun staff know what he expects of them and "the culture and ethics that I stand by".
Mohan says there's been "great strides" in privacy law and the Bribery Act since he joined the Sun.
"I've seen mistakes made over the years and I've learnt from those mistakes," he says, mentioning a PCC adjudication against the paper, before he was editor, for printing a story about Charlotte Church's pregnancy.
Mohan says last year he dropped a story on Dannii Minogue being pregnant as she was the 12-week PCC limit.
Another newspaper ran it and had a PCC complaint upheld against them.
"I've never chosen to run a story that involves a 12-week scan," he says, adding: "I can only speculate, but in that case I think they argued that it was in the public domain because it had been published on the internet in Australia."
Mohan tells Leveson that the biggest-selling story of the past 18 months was about the killer of James Bulger, not a celebrity.
He adds: "When The X Factor's on, TV stories about The X Factor tend to do well."
Mohan says "the Sun has a role to help its readers and help them through tough times", with a low cover price and a promotion to send Britons on holiday for £9.50.
"It's important to emphasise the positive as well as the negative. And I think this is what makes the Sun Britain's most popular newspaper," he concludes.
Mohan continues to discuss the strengths of the Sun. He says people would rather read a concise summation of weighty events like the Eurozone crisis rather than a "turgid 7,000 words".
"Perhaps the Sun isn't the newspaper that most people in this room turn to on a daily basis but it's one that most people turn to," he says.
Robert Jay QC asks Mohan about Max Clifford's contention that tabloid papers are sitting on stories because of a climate of fear brought on by the Leveson inquiry.
I think there has been an element of caution … but I think that's because of the Bribery Act [which came into force in 2009]. We've been very very careful not to publish stories that might breach the Bribery Act and have rejected stories on that basis.
Asked whether he is being more cautious specifically because of the inquiry, Mohan says: "Maybe a little, yes."
Asked about his meetings with the primie minister, Mohan says "I've seen Mr Cameron several times in the past year", describing the converstions as a catch-up on various issues of the day.
When asked if the chats are to ensure that the Sun continues to support the Tories, Mohan tells Robert Jay QC: "Ask Mr Cameron."
On the paper's high-profile switch of allegiance to the Tories, Mohan says "I think we'd felt for some time that the country was ripe for a change." He adds that this change was discussed with Rupert Murdoch, who supported the decision.
Mohan adds: "It was a group decision. I and my fellow executives felt this was the right way to go and we made our feelings known to Mr Murdoch."
Mohan is asked why a PCC ruling was published by the Sun on page 6. He says that it would have been negotiated with the PCC in normal cases.
"It was a very long complaint that, a very long ruling - one of the longest we've ever published," he says.
Mohan is asked about his comments at the Shaftas, a humorous awards ceremony for showbiz journalists, in 2002. He jokingly thanked "Vodafone's lack of security" for rival Daily Mirror's showbiz exclusives.
"I can't remember my exact words but I believe I said something along those lines … It was said purely as a joke," says Mohan. "It was a cheap shot at the Mirror, attempting to undermine their journalism because they had a particularly good year."
He adds: "Yes, I think it was well known [how to hack into mobile phone voicemails]."
Mohan says there were always rumours in Fleet Street at methods used by other newspapers.
Asked about rumours about the Sun, Mohan says: "I can't remember – it was a very long time ago."
The Duchess of Cambridge. Photograph: Richard Pohle/EPA
Robert Jay QC moves on to a Sun article, published on 4 November 2011, on rumours that the Duchess of Cambridge was pregnant, based on her refusal to "eat peanut paste". The headline was "Something you're nut telling us, Kate?"
Mohan says the story looks like speculation but that there is public interest in the pregnancy of the Duchess of Cambridge.
Mohan is back onto life at the Sun: "I like to describe the paper as being celebrating modern life and that it's 2012 rather than pining for the wish it is 1955 again, which I think it what a number of other papers do."
He adds that other papers are ""quite blinkered in their attitude" and readers have a huge range of interests because of the internet.
My biggest challenge is in the digital area. I think over the past 12 months we've noticed a massive increase in handheld devices … and the challenges we face from Twitter and Facebook we need to make ourselves as relevant as we can.
Mohan says his "heart sank" when he wrote the Sun's front page on the Ryan Giggs injunction – headlined "It's Ryan Giggs" – and realised that several million people probably already knew that, thanks to the internet.
"One thing I would ask is that there's a level playing field [between the internet and the press] … because it could be a mortal blow to the newspaper industry," he adds.
Mohan says on press regulation: "I think the PCC have been useful as a mediator … an adjudication upheld is seen as source of great shame, certainly by me and i'm sure also by other editors … a sensible mediation arm [for the PCC] would be useful."
Robert Jay QC, counsel for the inquiry, has finished his questioning.
Lord Justice Leveson has a couple of points to raise.
First, he asks Mohan what he thinks about celebrities fearing a backlash from the press for "speaking out" about harassment and press intrusion.
Mohan says it would be "pretty transparent to readers" if the Sun started launching attacks on celebrities who gave evidence to the inquiry.
Leveson says he is attracted to the idea of speedy and cheap resolution of disputes between members of the public and newspapers.
Mohan replies: "I think swifter access to justice is an interesting point and a mediating arm of the PCC [could help with that]."
He says he would be in favour of a "kite-marking system" on newspapers that might have a knock-on effect on advertising rates.
"A statutory backstop does fill me with fear," Mohan says.
He has now finished giving his evidence.
Written witness statements from Stuart Higgins, Simon Toms and David Yelland will be published on the inquiry's website.
Here is Dominic Mohan's witness statement in full:
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The Leveson inquiry has now finished for the day.
