Britain is going through a "time of crisis" over the phone-hacking allegations that have hit sections of the media, Prime Minister David Cameron said Friday, DPA reported.
Cameron demanded a new system of regulation for the press after what he said was a "wake-up call" for press standards and freedom.
"This is a time of crisis and concern," Cameron told a news conference in Downing Street.
"We are all in this together, including me," admitted Cameron, whose former communications chief, Andy Coulson, was Friday reported to be interviewed by the police over the allegations.
Coulson, a former editor of the News of the World, the paper at the centre of the allegations, stepped down as Cameron's press aide in January. He was hired by Cameron in 2007.
"The decision to hire him was mine and mine alone, and I take full responsibility for it," said Cameron.
Coulson, 43, has always denied any knowledge of the phone-hacking practices at the paper.
On Thursday, its owner, Australian press magnate Rupert Murdoch, announced the closure of the News of the World, which will publish its last edition on Sunday.
The move came after figures released by the paper - Britain's best-selling tabloid that has been around for 168 years - showed that 4,000 people had been subjected to illegal phone-hacking by investigators and journalists working for the paper.
In Britain, Murdoch also owns the Sun, the Times and the Sunday Times.