An online survey into phone hacking has found that a majority of those who responded believe it to be a widespread practice throughout the industry.

The survey was carried out by the Frontline Club – an organisation launched in 2003 to champion independent journalism – with the aim of triggering debate on the future of the profession.

The Club has now published the results which show 88pc of people who took part believed that phone hacking is widespread rather than simply confined to Rupert Murdoch’s News International.

When asked how the phone hacking scandal would end, answers included: ‘People will go to jail, tabloid journalists will behave themselves for a little while then bad practices will creep back in.’

As part of the survey the Club also asked for written suggestions for aspects of media reform, with one person suggesting letting the Press Complaints Commission take control of the front page of any publication.

They said: “Give the PCC some teeth. In particular the right to take total control of the front page of any publication. The right to create editorial content in the name of any publication, and have that publication print that editorial, as its own, in a place in the publication of the PCC’s choosing. To refer to the courts any publication that does not comply, or has committed wrongs too great to be put right with the above remedies.”

Ryan Gallagher from the FC said the only notable change from the preliminary results published at the start of the month is that a majority said they believed it was too early to tell whether the phone hacking scandal would fundamentally change the relationship between politics and journalism.

The survey was completed by almost 60 people and showed that 84pc of those felt that illegal practices such as blagging and bribery were accepted as common practice in journalism, and 63pc felt that the introduction of new statutory powers over the press is not the best solution. People also felt that the industry of journalism should implement a new code of ethics similar to the doctors’ Hippocratic Oath.

Another respondent felt that the National Union of Journalist’s Code of Conduct should be recognised by employers to protect media workers from bullying employers so that they are not forced to work in ‘a culture of fear’ and can resist unethical practices.

Full contributions can be found here and a separate page on “the role of investigative journalism” can be found here.

It is hoped the results will be a serious and valuable contribution to the wider national debate and the findings may be submitted to the government select committee that has been assembled to gather evidence on the future of investigative journalism.