UK politicians reach late deal on new press code
Source: Agencies |
March 19, 2013, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
BRITISH politicians have struck a last-minute deal over press regulation, unveiling a new code yesterday that is meant to curb the worst abuses of the country's scandal-tarred media.
The deal follows days of heated debate over how to implement the recommendations of Lord Justice Brian Leveson, the senior judge tasked by politicians with cleaning up a newspaper industry plunged into crisis by revelations of widespread illegality.
Victims' groups have lobbied for an independent watchdog whose powers are rooted in legislation. Media groups have opposed any potential press law, saying it threatens press freedom. The deal reached in the early hours yesterday appears to be a complicated compromise.
"I think we have got an agreement which protects the freedom of the press - that is incredibly important in a democracy - but also protects the rights of people not to have their lives turned upside down," senior opposition leader Harriet Harman told broadcaster ITV.
The body being proposed by politicians would be independent of the media and would have the power to force newspapers to print prominent apologies.
Regulatory regime
Submitting to the regulatory regime would be optional, but media groups staying outside the watchdog's purview could risk being slapped with extra damages if their stories fall afoul of Britain's court system.
Rather than be established through a new press law, which advocates of Britain's media have described as unacceptable, the regulatory body would be created through a Royal Charter, a kind of executive order whose history stretches back to medieval times. Adding to the complexity, a law would be passed to prevent media-friendly ministers from tweaking the charter after the fact.
Harman acknowledged that the charter was "quite a sort of complex and old-fashioned thing" but said it "kind of more or less ... has got legal basis."
Victims' group Hacked Off said it believed the deal would go a long way toward protecting the public from fresh media abuses, but many journalists and free speech advocates were left disturbed by the proposals.
The London-based Index on Censorship called the developments a "sad day for press freedom in the UK."
The Sun, Britain's top-selling newspaper, carried a front page, black-and-white photograph of Winston Churchill next to a 1949 quote in which the British leader described a free press as "the unsleeping guardian of every other right that free men prize."
The deal follows days of heated debate over how to implement the recommendations of Lord Justice Brian Leveson, the senior judge tasked by politicians with cleaning up a newspaper industry plunged into crisis by revelations of widespread illegality.
Victims' groups have lobbied for an independent watchdog whose powers are rooted in legislation. Media groups have opposed any potential press law, saying it threatens press freedom. The deal reached in the early hours yesterday appears to be a complicated compromise.
"I think we have got an agreement which protects the freedom of the press - that is incredibly important in a democracy - but also protects the rights of people not to have their lives turned upside down," senior opposition leader Harriet Harman told broadcaster ITV.
The body being proposed by politicians would be independent of the media and would have the power to force newspapers to print prominent apologies.
Regulatory regime
Submitting to the regulatory regime would be optional, but media groups staying outside the watchdog's purview could risk being slapped with extra damages if their stories fall afoul of Britain's court system.
Rather than be established through a new press law, which advocates of Britain's media have described as unacceptable, the regulatory body would be created through a Royal Charter, a kind of executive order whose history stretches back to medieval times. Adding to the complexity, a law would be passed to prevent media-friendly ministers from tweaking the charter after the fact.
Harman acknowledged that the charter was "quite a sort of complex and old-fashioned thing" but said it "kind of more or less ... has got legal basis."
Victims' group Hacked Off said it believed the deal would go a long way toward protecting the public from fresh media abuses, but many journalists and free speech advocates were left disturbed by the proposals.
The London-based Index on Censorship called the developments a "sad day for press freedom in the UK."
The Sun, Britain's top-selling newspaper, carried a front page, black-and-white photograph of Winston Churchill next to a 1949 quote in which the British leader described a free press as "the unsleeping guardian of every other right that free men prize."
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