Robert Peston in dock over economic crisis

A committee of MPs will grill financial journalists today on their behaviour during the economic crisis.

The Treasury committee has called Robert Peston from the BBC, Lionel Barber from the Financial Times, Alex Brummer from the Daily Mail, Simon Jenkins from the Guardian and Jeff Randall from Sky and the Telegraph to appear before them this afternoon.

With market volatility at unprecedented levels and the UK slipping deeper and deeper into recession, shareholders, bankers, politicians and journalists themselves have been asking questions about the role of the media during the crisis.

A leak to Mr Peston about the imminent collapse of Northern Rock, for instance, led to massive queues outside the bank which eventually forced the government to guarantee people's savings.

MPs are likely to ask whether there should be restrictions on financial journalists' reporting during periods of market turbulence, or whether they should exercise more restraint.

There are also likely to be questions about whether journalists have sufficient expertise in financial issues, an issue particularly relevant as financial issues move from the inside pages to the front.