Press legislation threatens freedom at heart of society
Sometimes we British can be a little hard on ourselves.
We rarely give ourselves credit for the place our tiny island still maintains in the world, on a political and economic stage. We rarely pat ourselves on the back for living in a society that is tolerant, progressive, and inclusive.
Life here is comparatively safe, our police force, in the main, do not have to carry guns. We have a welfare system and a National Health Service that, though facing problems greater than ever before, are the envy of the world. We are governed by councillors and members of Parliament who are elected in free and fair elections.
This is not a rose-tinted view that is blind to the fact that the UK has massive challenges, but a general take despite those problems life here is all right.
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We benefit from an open justice system and functioning democracy that rightly prides itself of the maintenance of freedom of speech.
That freedom's greatest champion is our free press. the fourth estate, a crucial cog in the machine that makes Britain great.
There are some areas of the press that have taken that freedom too far. In some cases they have broken the law. The phone hacking scandal, for example, was a disgrace and those involved and responsible deserve to be reprimanded and punished.
But the outcry that prompted the setting up of the Leveson inquiry was out of proportion to the scale of Britain's press problem. That is, if it has one at all. In addition to the national press, Britain has 1,100 regional and local papers with 31 million readers. Despite the problems the industry is facing, newspaper titles remain integral and important parts of all of our communities.
The majority are fully signed up to the PCC's Code of Practice and operate within it. So for the majority of the press, self-regulation has been a real success.
Lord Justice Leveson recommended a new self-regulation body for the press, but independent of it, and free of serving editors. Very few disagree.
But Lord Leveson also recommended that the new body should be underpinned by legislation, and it is over this that Prime Minister David Cameron this week walked away from cross-party talks on Leveson implementation. Mr Cameron will not entertain legislation of the press, unlike Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg and Labour's Ed Miliband.
And he is right. Any form of legislation – even the minimum promised by Mr Miliband yesterday – will open the door for political control of the press – if not now, then in the future. There is too much at stake.
As we sit down in front of the telly tonight, the issue of press freedom and legislation may seem far away. But the freedom of the press in Britain is today under threat. MPs will vote on Mr Cameron's legislation-free proposals on Monday. We urge all MPs to back his plans. Underpinning by statute is a step too far.
3 Comments
by conundrum
Saturday, March 16 2013, 9:36AM
“So, obviously no bias or self-interest here ? An editorial trying to persuade readers that legal underpinning to press regulation would threaten the freedom of the impartial, fearless press.
This is probably the most self-serving, dishonest piece of propaganda I've ever read in the WMN : To quote from the text: 'But the outcry that prompted the setting up of the Leveson inquiry was out of proportion to the scale of Britain's press problem. That is, if it has one at all.'..... What?.....
Nothing to worry about then? Presumably not the illegal phone-hacking and hounding of hundreds of innocent people including the parents of murdered children, illegal collusion and bribery between the press and the police. David Cameron hiring Coulson, his relationship with Brooks, etc., etc.,
By coincidence, just today the Metropolitan Police have announced another possible 600 victims of phone hacking,...... so I suppose they're over-reacting again. Lord Leveson produced a 2000 page report.....but that was 'out of proportion' of course. Problem ? What problem?
The sad truth is that much of the press and the political elite have a very unhealthy relationship indeed. Rupert Murdoch's malign influence over British politics may be starting to wane, but Cameron's current attempts to resist and disregard the conclusions of the report that he himself comissioned, illustrate exactly how nervous of Murdoch he still is.
Once again The WMN reminds us that it is, after all, a subsiduary of the Daily Mail, that bastion of...err....honesty and free speech?”
by conundrum
Saturday, March 16 2013, 9:33AM
“So, obviously no bias or self-interest here ? An editorial trying to persuade readers that legal underpinning to press regulation would threaten the freedom of the impartial, fearless press.
This is probably the most self-serving, dishonest piece of propaganda I've ever read in the WMN : To quote from the text: 'But the outcry that prompted the setting up of the Leveson inquiry was out of proportion to the scale of Britain's press problem. That is, if it has one at all.'..... What?.....
Nothing to worry about then? Presumably not the illegal phone-hacking and hounding of hundreds of innocent people including the parents of murdered children, illegal collusion and bribery between the press and the police. David Cameron hiring Coulson, his relationship with Brooks, etc., etc.,
By coincidence, just today the Metropolitan Police have announced another possible 600 victims of phone hacking,...... so I suppose they're over-reacting again. Lord Leveson produced a 2000 page report.....but that was 'out of proportion' of course. Problem ? What problem?
The sad truth is that much of the press and the political elite have a very unhealthy relationship indeed. Rupert Murdoch's malign influence over British politics may be starting to wane, but Cameron's current attempts to resist and disregard the conclusions of the report that he himself comissioned, illustrate exactly how nervous of Murdoch he still is.
Once again The WMN reminds us that it is, after all, a subsiduary of the Daily Mail, that bastion of...err....honesty and free speech?”
by conundrum
Saturday, March 16 2013, 9:31AM
“So, obviously no bias or self-interest here ? An editorial trying to persuade readers that legal underpinning to press regulation would threaten the freedom of the impartial, fearless press.
This is probably the most self-serving, dishonest piece of propaganda I've ever read in the WMN : To quote from the text: 'But the outcry that prompted the setting up of the Leveson inquiry was out of proportion to the scale of Britain's press problem. That is, if it has one at all.'..... What?.....
Nothing to worry about then? Presumably not the illegal phone-hacking and hounding of hundreds of innocent people including the parents of murdered children, illegal collusion and bribery between the press and the police. David Cameron hiring Coulson, his relationship with Brooks, etc., etc.,
By coincidence, just today the Metropolitan Police have announced another possible 600 victims of phone hacking,...... so I suppose they're over-reacting again. Lord Leveson produced a 2000 page report.....but that was 'out of proportion' of course. Problem ? What problem?
The sad truth is that much of the press and the political elite have a very unhealthy relationship indeed. Rupert Murdoch's malign influence over British politics may be starting to wane, but Cameron's current attempts to resist and disregard the conclusions of the report that he himself comissioned, illustrate exactly how nervous of Murdoch he still is.
Once again The WMN reminds us that it is, after all, a subsiduary of the Daily Mail, that bastion of...err....free speech?
The WMN is a subsiduary of The Daily Mail”