The scandal became known as "the teapot tapes", a term coined by the "New Zealand Listener"'s election live blog. Labour leader Phil Goff called the recording a "dodgy conversation between two people trying to manipulate a minor party". Referring to the ACT Party, he said, "That party is supported by less than one percent, people don’t want them there." Mark Lewis, a lawyer representing victims of the News International phone hacking scandal defended the recording as "good journalism" and said it was "in no way comparable to the News of the World scandal" This view was shared by University of Canterbury journalism lecturer Jim Tully, who also stated he believed the contents of the conversation should be released in the public interest. Key defended the decision to involve police, calling the issue "the start of a slippery slope":  These comments were described as "unfortunate and totally wrong" by the Media Freedom Committee, which represents New Zealand media organisations. They said that the release of the recording in this case would not lead to much wider publication of private conversations. The context in which this conversation was held (as part of an election media conference, to which media were welcome) makes some legal bloggers question whether this meeting could be considered private. Steven Price is so confident of this that his blog openly publishes a link to a leaked copy of the recording. John Key laid a complaint about the incident with the New Zealand Police. The Police said that making the recording may have been an offence under the Crimes Act. They began contacting 3 News, Radio New Zealand, TVNZ and The "Herald on Sunday" requesting unpublished information be handed over. Media outlets were informed that police would seek a search warrant. Ambrose applied for a High Court declaration that the recording was not private and could therefore be published, but the judge declined to rule, saying that it would not be appropriate to make such a declaration in advance of a police investigation. In March 2012 the police announced that they had issued Ambrose with a warning but would not be prosecuting as there was not sufficient public interest in the matter going to court. They said that their opinion was that the conversation was private and that the recording was at least reckless and probably was intentional. Ambrose wrote a letter to John Banks and John Key saying that the recording was not intentional, and expressing regret that he had released the tape to the Herald on Sunday. The police said that this letter was a factor in the decision not to press charges. Ambrose's lawyer said that he believed that no criminal offence had been committed, and that if the police had a strong case they would have proceeded.