Newspaper industry push for a rival royal charter may halt press reforms

http://www.theguardian.com/law/2013/oct/25/newspaper-judicial-review-press-reform-royal-charter

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The government is disappointed that newspaper and magazine publishers are to challenge the decision to reject their proposals for a rivalroyal charter to govern press regulation.

The announcement that the industry is to apply for a judicial review raises doubts over whether ministers will seek the Queen's approval at a privy council meeting next week for a rival royal charter, which is backed by the three major parties but bitterly opposed by much of the industry.

The Queen has already been urged by a group of international press freedom groups not to sign the charter, and industry sources said the privy council should now reconsider its plans to press ahead with approval at the 30 October meeting.

Meanwhile, final plans were published for the establishment of a new Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso) to replace the Press Complaints Commission as the industry's watchdog.

The industry group which has drafted the plans said Ipso could begin work early in the new year and provide the tough, independent and effective regulator which Sir Brian Leveson called for in last year's report on media ethics and practices.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport welcomed the progress that the industry had made on establishing a new regulator but expressed disappointment at the decision to take legal action.

A spokesman said the industry royal charter had been considered in "an entirely proper and fair way" by a privy council subcommittee and that the culture secretary, Maria Miller, had secured significant changes to the cross-party charter to address press concerns.

"The government is working to bring in a system of independent press self-regulation that will protect press freedom while offering real redress when mistakes are made," the spokesman said.

"The culture secretary pushed hard for recent changes on arbitration and the standards code to be made, which will ensure the system is workable and the stated intention to go to court is particularly disappointing in light of these changes."

A government source indicated that ministers would wait until the industry has filed papers with the court before deciding how they would respond.

The application for judicial review asks the high court to quash the 8 October decision by a privy council committee, made up of ministers, not to grant the industry charter.

The Press Standards Board of Finance (PressBof), the industry body which funds the regulatory system, argues that the application was not dealt with fairly, that the government and privy council failed to consult with the press, and that the procedures used were "irrational".

The PressBof chairman, Lord Black of Brentwood, said they had decided to take action because of the "enormous ramifications for free speech" in the UK and across the globe.

"The government and the privy council should have applied the most rigorous standards of consultation and examination of the royal charter proposed by the industry, which would have enshrined tough regulatory standards at the same time as protecting press freedom," he said.

"They singularly failed to do so, and that is why – as the issues at stake are so extraordinarily high – we are having to take this course of action."

However, Hacked Off, the lobbying group which has led the campaign for tighter press regulation, said the industry's actions were "predictable and self-serving".

"The people leading this part of the newspaper industry are exposing themselves as desperate and deaf," said its executive director, Brian Cathcart.

"Desperate, because they are now resorting to a legal challenge to something based on the findings of a public inquiry, and backed by the victims of press abuse, all parties in parliament, and the overwhelming majority of the public.

"Deaf, because they refuse to listen to the evidence that there is no threat to the free press and that this deal actually benefits the press, both financially and in terms of freedom of expression."

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