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| Press regulation rules may exclude small-scale bloggers | Press regulation rules may exclude small-scale bloggers |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| The government has moved to exclude small-scale bloggers from the threat of media regulation, and will hold a miniconsultation with the newspaper industry on how best to construct a workable definition of the bloggers that need to be protected. | The government has moved to exclude small-scale bloggers from the threat of media regulation, and will hold a miniconsultation with the newspaper industry on how best to construct a workable definition of the bloggers that need to be protected. |
| Ministers concede that the definitions offered so far may have loopholes, and will attempt to put in place a clear watertight amendment after Easter when the crown and courts bill returns to the Commons. | Ministers concede that the definitions offered so far may have loopholes, and will attempt to put in place a clear watertight amendment after Easter when the crown and courts bill returns to the Commons. |
| Lord McNally, the justice minister, said the government's aim was to bring under the ambit of the regulator only the main elements of the press as well as what he defined as press-like activity online. | Lord McNally, the justice minister, said the government's aim was to bring under the ambit of the regulator only the main elements of the press as well as what he defined as press-like activity online. |
| He said: "I have seen over the past week some concerns voiced regarding the extent to which bloggers and tweeters may be caught. | He said: "I have seen over the past week some concerns voiced regarding the extent to which bloggers and tweeters may be caught. |
| "Clearly, the online version of the national press or their regional counterparts, or indeed an online press-like news site, carry with them very different public expectations when compared with a small-scale blog or for that matter a tweet. | "Clearly, the online version of the national press or their regional counterparts, or indeed an online press-like news site, carry with them very different public expectations when compared with a small-scale blog or for that matter a tweet. |
| "Our definition of 'relevant publisher' seeks to make that differentiation and it does so by employing an interlocking series of tests, all of which must be met before the threshold of the definition is reached. | "Our definition of 'relevant publisher' seeks to make that differentiation and it does so by employing an interlocking series of tests, all of which must be met before the threshold of the definition is reached. |
| "This is first whether the publication publishes news-related material, second whether the publication is written by different authors, third whether it is to any extent subject to editorial control and fourth whether it is published in the course of a business." | "This is first whether the publication publishes news-related material, second whether the publication is written by different authors, third whether it is to any extent subject to editorial control and fourth whether it is published in the course of a business." |
| He said Lord Justice Leveson had sought to distinguish between the grassroots small-scale activities of bloggers, and those activities that have developed over time into more sophisticated, multi-authored and news-related businesses. | He said Lord Justice Leveson had sought to distinguish between the grassroots small-scale activities of bloggers, and those activities that have developed over time into more sophisticated, multi-authored and news-related businesses. |
| He said the regulator was not intended to capture the news aggregation services of operations such as Yahoo or MSN. Nor is it intended to include social networking sites, or sites that merely moderate the comments of others. | He said the regulator was not intended to capture the news aggregation services of operations such as Yahoo or MSN. Nor is it intended to include social networking sites, or sites that merely moderate the comments of others. |
| He added that the culture secretary, Maria Miller, would ask her officials to engage with those interested on how the definition should operate. | He added that the culture secretary, Maria Miller, would ask her officials to engage with those interested on how the definition should operate. |
| The latest move came as the Telegraph executive director, Lord Black, used the debate on the crown and courts bill to lambast plans for exemplary damages against newspapers as a massive blow against investigatory journalism. | The latest move came as the Telegraph executive director, Lord Black, used the debate on the crown and courts bill to lambast plans for exemplary damages against newspapers as a massive blow against investigatory journalism. |
| Lord Black urged the government to pause and think again, describing proposals to allow courts to impose exemplary damages on newspapers who have lost libel cases as "shotgun legislation" that will create "a constitutional nightmare". | Lord Black urged the government to pause and think again, describing proposals to allow courts to impose exemplary damages on newspapers who have lost libel cases as "shotgun legislation" that will create "a constitutional nightmare". |
| He said it could not be right that the proposals, agreed "at breakneck speed", had been tacked on to the crime and courts bill without "any proper scrutiny". "They were cobbled together late at night over pizza with no thought for the legal and constitutional issues involved," he said. | He said it could not be right that the proposals, agreed "at breakneck speed", had been tacked on to the crime and courts bill without "any proper scrutiny". "They were cobbled together late at night over pizza with no thought for the legal and constitutional issues involved," he said. |
| Black said the exemplary damages clauses would almost certainly be contrary to European law and criticised "an unrepresentative lobby group of celebrities", a reference to the pressure group Hacked Off, which was involved in the talks between the Tories, Labour and Lib Dems that led to the controversial press deal last Monday morning. | Black said the exemplary damages clauses would almost certainly be contrary to European law and criticised "an unrepresentative lobby group of celebrities", a reference to the pressure group Hacked Off, which was involved in the talks between the Tories, Labour and Lib Dems that led to the controversial press deal last Monday morning. |
| "These amendments are wrong in principle and fundamentally flawed. They are almost certainly illegal and so will not endure. They deal with problems of an analogue past and are – in the words of the Guardian – 'illiterate about the internet'. They will either collapse or be struck down in Europe. They are a constitutional nightmare." | "These amendments are wrong in principle and fundamentally flawed. They are almost certainly illegal and so will not endure. They deal with problems of an analogue past and are – in the words of the Guardian – 'illiterate about the internet'. They will either collapse or be struck down in Europe. They are a constitutional nightmare." |
| A second clause was also contrary to the principles of law, where costs are generally awarded against the loser, he said, claiming that publishers faced the prospect of having to bear the entire costs of a case even if they won. | A second clause was also contrary to the principles of law, where costs are generally awarded against the loser, he said, claiming that publishers faced the prospect of having to bear the entire costs of a case even if they won. |
| His impassioned plea to the Lords to reconsider the amendments echoes the arguments expressed in a lengthy piece by the Guardian's editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger in which he warned that exemplary damages for those who don't join the new regulator would be a "seriously bad idea that will create martyrs". | His impassioned plea to the Lords to reconsider the amendments echoes the arguments expressed in a lengthy piece by the Guardian's editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger in which he warned that exemplary damages for those who don't join the new regulator would be a "seriously bad idea that will create martyrs". |
| Lord McNally urged Lord Black "genuinely to pause, and say rather than to try to wreck this, could we not see whether we can make it work". He said it was regrettable that Lord Black in his speech made "no apology for the phone hacking on an industrial scale, or offer any recognition of the deep disgust of the general public which is reflected in the opinion polls we have seen". | |
| He denied the proposals on exemplary damages were in breach of the European Convention, but acknowledged that "we are taking a trip into the unknown". | |
| Peers agreed without votes the first tranche of Leveson amendments introduced last week in the Commons. |