After an inquiry into press intrusion lasting 16 months and costing £6m, Lord Justice Leveson has delivered a damning verdict on decades of 'outrageous behaviour by newspapers'.
After hearing evidence including how News of the World journalists had hacked the phone of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler, his 2,400-page report condemned the behaviour of elements within the newspaper industry and called for the establishment of a muscular new independent regulatory body, backed by legislation.
Leveson concluded that 'The press had repeatedly acted as if its own code of conduct simply did not exist, and wreaked havoc with the lives of innocent people. He said that he was left with no doubt that the existing model of voluntary self-regulation under the Press Complaints Commission which is run by newspaper editors and overseen by Ofcom, the regulator for televsion and radio journalists.
David Camerons response? Let's give the press another go at regulating themselves shall we?
In other news, The Sun newspaper found itself £400,000 lighter yesterday after an out of court settlement with x-factor judge Louis Walsh after it incorrectly accussed him of sexually assualting a man in a nightclub.
Good call Dave, i think the press policing themselves just may work this time and i am sure that when the next election comes around, you can now count on their support.
9 comments:
the american press is a disaster with an overwhelming bias to the left. still, i do not know how the government can fix the press without also crushing our right to free expression. don't even try to fix the press.
q
I'm in favour of a regulator that is not run by the same people that they are regulating. That's just madness. Cameron should not be allowed to make this decision after we heard just how close he was to the Murdochs. It's the drug addict putting the drug dealer in charge of the drug cabinet and being told not to touch it as someone said on tv today.
It's funny how all the multi-millionaire media moguls in the States are keen to own and operate left wing media sources, innit? The world can seem pretty funny sometimes.
I don't know how it works there q or even if your press is regulated at all.
What i understand about Leveson haveaniceday is he wants to see an independent regulator free of newspapers editors so i agree with you that it is madness what we have now. I keep hearing the comment 'marking their own homework' and as i'm typing Andrew Neil just said it.
They get all the left wingers over there Cheezy and we get the rabidly right wing Murdoch family. THat said, they do have Piers Morgan as well.
I think I was being slightly sarcastic about the situation in the US, but fair point about Morgan. He's not really a lefty or a righty, he's just an egomaniacal twat.
everyone is biased. nobody in the press is immune to this. in the USA the vast majority (80%+) vote for the DNC (ceratinly more left than the RNC). The vast majority of US newspapers endorse DNC candidates...
q
still i'm against all gov regulation of the press.
one exception, if a press organization presents a position that they cannot defend with facts, that causes harm, let a jury decide the criminal justice for involved individuals, and the civil justice (financial judgement) for the organization.
afterall, the press is an industry and the companies exist to make money.
if you want data you don't go to the press alone. they are just one data point. Highly biased at that: CNN(left), CBS(left), ABC(left), NBC(left), MSN(left), NYTIMES(left), WashPost(left), Chicago Hearld(left), LA Times(left), Houston Post(left), talk radio(right), FOX(right), DRUDGE (right).
q
In terms of the Presidential election just gone, Mitt Romney actually enjoyed more endorsements from daily newspapers than Obama did.
This advantage was somewhat cancelled out, however, by Obama's greater number of endorsements by weeklies and magazines, and by having some of the higher circulation dailies in his corner.
fair enough, though not all papers are equal in impact. what is your source? i'd love to see it.
the san antonio express for example only serves 1 million, while the houston post serves 5 million and so does the dallas hearld. of course, ny times, chicago trib, LA times are the whoppers in USA.
q
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