FILE - In this July 28, 2011 file photo, Lord Justice Brian Leveson speaks during the first formal session of his phone hacking inquiry in London. Leveson, who spent a year investigating the misdeeds of Britain's lively newspapers, is giving Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron an early look at his recommendations on Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2012 for the regulation of the press. (AP Photo/Sean Dempsey, Pool-File)
FILE - In this July 28, 2011 file photo, Lord Justice Brian Leveson speaks during the first formal session of his phone hacking inquiry in London. Leveson, who spent a year investigating the misdeeds of Britain's lively newspapers, is giving Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron an early look at his recommendations on Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2012 for the regulation of the press. (AP Photo/Sean Dempsey, Pool-File)
Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron walks out the front door of 10 Downing Street in London, to greet the Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah during his State Visit to the UK, Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2012. The judge who spent a year investigating the misdeeds of Britain's lively newspapers is giving Prime Minister David Cameron an early look at his recommendations for the regulation of the press. Officials say Cameron will get a copy of Lord Justice Brian Leveson's report Wednesday, a day before the public sees it, but Cameron is already being besieged with advice about how to respond to the still-secret recommendations. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
LONDON (AP) ? Britain's rambunctious press braced Thursday for censure and tougher scrutiny as an ethics inquiry triggered by tabloid phone hacking released its wide-ranging report.
Lord Justice Brian Leveson was due to release the findings of his yearlong inquiry, which heard evidence from hundreds of journalists, politicians, lawyers and victims of press intrusion.
His report, reportedly running to 2,000 pages, was due for release at 1:30 p.m. (1330GMT, 8:30 a.m. EST).
Prime Minister David Cameron set up the inquiry after revelations of illegal eavesdropping by the now-defunct News of the World tabloid sparked a criminal investigation and a wave of public revulsion.
Leveson is expected to criticize the cozy relationship between politicians, police and the press and to recommend stronger newspaper regulation.
Many politicians and members of the public want a regulatory body enshrined in law, but some lawmakers, editors and journalists fear that could limit press freedom.
Parliament would have to approve any legal changes the report recommends, and Cameron is under intense pressure from both sides. He is also tainted by his own ties to prominent figures in the scandal.
It erupted in 2011 when it was revealed that the Rupert Murdoch-owned News of the World had eavesdropped on the mobile phone voicemails of 13-year-old murder victim Milly Dowler while police were searching for her.
Murdoch shut down the 168-year-old newspaper in July 2011. His U.K. newspaper company, News International, has paid damages to dozens of hacking victims, and faces lawsuits from dozens more.
The former Murdoch editors and journalists subsequently charged with phone hacking, police bribery or other wrongdoing include Cameron's former spokesman, Andy Coulson, and ex-News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks, a friend of the prime minister.
Coulson and Brooks were appearing in court Thursday on charges of paying public officials for information.
Cameron, who received a copy of Leveson's report on Wednesday, is due to make a statement about it in the House of Commons later Thursday.
He and other senior politicians insist they will not curb Britain's long tradition of free speech.
"Everybody wants two things: firstly, a strong, independent, raucous press who can hold people in positions of power to account, and secondly to protect ordinary people ? the vulnerable, the innocent ? when the press overstep the mark," Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said Thursday.
"That's the balance that we are trying to strike and I am sure we will."
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