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Press regulation: instead of sensible reform, we now have a sloppy mess Press regulation: instead of sensible reform, we now have a sloppy mess
(6 months later)
Lord Justice Leveson's most plangent question begins to be answered. Why, he asked repeatedly, do so many reforms of the British press, proposed down the decades by royal commissions and learned inquiries, come to very little? Perhaps because they are built on treacherous ground, because they need trust and great care even to begin to work. For both trust and care are the missing ingredients now.Lord Justice Leveson's most plangent question begins to be answered. Why, he asked repeatedly, do so many reforms of the British press, proposed down the decades by royal commissions and learned inquiries, come to very little? Perhaps because they are built on treacherous ground, because they need trust and great care even to begin to work. For both trust and care are the missing ingredients now.
Last Monday afternoon, pavilioned in effusions of cross-party regard, David Cameron ushered his royal charter through the House. By Tuesday afternoon, the prospects for a legally underpinned regime to replace the Press Complaints Commission seemed far more problematic. What went wrong? This paper supports the formation of a more rigorous, independent press regulatory system. It is not over-alarmed at the "dab of law" needed to protect it from ministerial meddling, either. Yet policy and due process have become foolishly interwoven.Last Monday afternoon, pavilioned in effusions of cross-party regard, David Cameron ushered his royal charter through the House. By Tuesday afternoon, the prospects for a legally underpinned regime to replace the Press Complaints Commission seemed far more problematic. What went wrong? This paper supports the formation of a more rigorous, independent press regulatory system. It is not over-alarmed at the "dab of law" needed to protect it from ministerial meddling, either. Yet policy and due process have become foolishly interwoven.
Let it be said clearly that the press – divided, suspicious, too often shrill – is no easy partner in this search. To build any partnership on voluntary lines, there has to be intensive discussion, meticulous drafting and basic agreement. That did not, and could not, happen on Sunday night and Monday morning as (bizarrely) four Hacked Off campaigners, Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband guided Oliver Letwin, pizza box in hand, through the details of what they had agreed. It couldn't happen on Monday afternoon because so few copies of the charter were available to MPs. Only later – and much too late – did bloggers and websites (including Conservative Home) begin to wonder if they were "relevant publishers" as readied for rigour in the charter's text. Only later did arbitration and exemplary damages stew in a pot of confusion.Let it be said clearly that the press – divided, suspicious, too often shrill – is no easy partner in this search. To build any partnership on voluntary lines, there has to be intensive discussion, meticulous drafting and basic agreement. That did not, and could not, happen on Sunday night and Monday morning as (bizarrely) four Hacked Off campaigners, Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband guided Oliver Letwin, pizza box in hand, through the details of what they had agreed. It couldn't happen on Monday afternoon because so few copies of the charter were available to MPs. Only later – and much too late – did bloggers and websites (including Conservative Home) begin to wonder if they were "relevant publishers" as readied for rigour in the charter's text. Only later did arbitration and exemplary damages stew in a pot of confusion.
It's a Cornish pasty of a mess, a second-home mortgage for millionaire bankers. Mandarins used to condemn Tony Blair's "sofa style" of governance. David Cameron's team, alas, seem to specialise in snoozing, sloppy pizza and total tactlessness – and nothing will ever be properly regulated that way.It's a Cornish pasty of a mess, a second-home mortgage for millionaire bankers. Mandarins used to condemn Tony Blair's "sofa style" of governance. David Cameron's team, alas, seem to specialise in snoozing, sloppy pizza and total tactlessness – and nothing will ever be properly regulated that way.
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