An online survey on phone hacking completed by journalists has shown that people believe that bribery is common in the profession.

Launched by the Frontline Club – a media club that champions independent journalism – in response to the News of the World phone hacking scandal, the online forum is aimed at triggering debate on the future of journalism.

 Journalists were asked for their thoughts and comments and the preliminary results have been published on the site.

They show that 82pc of people felt that phone hacking was used by more groups than just News International and 92pc felt that other illegal practices such as bribery and blagging are common practice in journalism.

Asked whether the Press Complaints Commission should be scrapped or re-structured, 73pc said it should be restructured. 

The same number also felt that David Cameron’s reputation and leadership have been harmed by the scandal.

The debate is now open to members of the public with responses being collected until 10 August.

Ryan Gallagher from the Frontline Club said: “Most of Frontline’s members are well-established journalists, so it will be interesting to see if there is any notable shift in the statistics once we factor in the opinions of those working outside the industry.”

A final report will detail the strongest opinions and suggestions that arose throughout the course of the discussion.

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