In full: The Royal Charter on Self-regulation of the Press for Publication
RODNEY Willett writes in the Times on Press regulation:
I am unhappy that freedom is speech in this country – a freedom which was very hard to achieve – is under threat for no good reason. As the arrests show, we have all the required laws – what was wrong was that they were not enforced. There was no need for a costly inquiry funded by us taxpayers. The need was for a politician to stand up and insist that all in the media and the police who had broken the law be arrested and tried.
Labour leader Ed Miliband said there was statute underpinning the Royal Charter, “which is actually protecting it from being changed”. It’s statutory legislation. You can’t be both free and regulated by the State.
Nick Cohen writes in The Observer:
We are in the middle of a liberal berserker, one of those demented moments when “progressives” run riot and smash the liberties they are meant to defend. Inspired by Lord Justice Leveson, they are prepared in Parliament tomorrow to sacrifice freedom of speech, freedom of the press and fair trials. They are prepared to allow every oppressive dictatorship on the planet to say: “We’re only following the British example” when outsiders and their own wretched citizens protest.
….“relevant publisher” means a person (other than a broadcaster) who publishes in the United Kingdom: (a) a newspaper or magazine containing news-related material, or (b) a website containing news-related material (whether or not related to a newspaper or magazine)
That’s pretty much anyone and everyone.
Francis power writes at the BBC:
For all their sins I still trust the printed press in this country over the current offering of what passes for our our ‘political classes’. And I most certainly do not trust any legislation that has been drafted so as it cannot be undone. Otherwise being gay would still be illegal and we would still be hanging people.
18 March 2013 Royal Charter on Self-regulation of the Press for Publication
Posted: 18th, March 2013 | In: Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
