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Newspapers' press regulation plans rejected | Newspapers' press regulation plans rejected |
(about 1 hour later) | |
Newspaper industry proposals for a royal charter covering press regulation have been rejected, Culture Secretary Maria Miller has told the Commons. | |
She said they did not comply with some "important" principles of the Leveson report on press regulation, such as independence and access to arbitration. | |
The alternative plans proposed by the government after cross-party talks would now be "improved", she added. | |
Ministers were said to be willing to consider some of the industry's ideas. | |
The charter agreed by the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Labour, and backed by Parliament in March, will now be put forward for approval at a specially convened meeting of the Privy Council on 30 October, Mrs Miller said. | |
Press regulation options were proposed in the wake of the Leveson Inquiry, which was set up in July 2011 after it emerged journalists working for the now-closed News of the World had hacked into the mobile phone of murdered Surrey schoolgirl Milly Dowler. | |
But politicians and the newspapers have clashed over the details of a royal charter - a formal document used to establish and lay out the terms of a body - to underpin a new press regulator. | |
'Once-in-a-generation opportunity' | |
The government's proposals, published in March, have cross-party backing and the support of campaign group Hacked Off. | |
The industry's plans for an alternative royal charter were formally proposed by the majority of the UK's newspaper groups amid concerns the government charter gave politicians too much power. | |
It was considered by a sub-committee of the Privy Council on Monday. | |
Mrs Miller told MPs: "The Committee of the Privy Council is unable to recommend the press's proposal for a royal charter be granted. | |
"Whilst there are areas where it is acceptable, it is unable to comply with some important Leveson principles and government policy." | |
But she said the committee had identified issues where the cross-party charter could be improved, including the editors' code of conduct. | |
Mrs Miller told MPs: "We have an opportunity to take a final look at our charter, an opportunity to bring all parties together and ensure that the final charter is both workable and effective. | |
"We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to get this right. We all want it to be the best we can do to give individuals access to redress whilst safeguarding this country's free press which forms such a vital part of our democracy." |