Post-Leveson coverage of press regulation largely negative, report finds

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/sep/04/leveson-press-regulation-media-standards-royal-charter

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Coverage of press regulation in national newspapers following the publication of the Leveson report has been extensive and largely negative, according to newly published research.

The analysis by the Media Standards Trust of 19 newspapers, including the Daily Telegraph, the Financial Times and the Sun, also found that the Leveson report and the royal charter introduced to underpin a new industry regulator were “widely portrayed as a threat to press freedom”, with articles often featuring emotive and repetitive language “focused on freedom and government interference”.

Sir Brian Leveson’s report based on his inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the press was published in November 2012, prompting numerous news articles and opinion pieces in its wake. The MST analysis found that of the 2,047 pieces of related online and print content published in the year following the report, more than two-thirds contained some evaluation on Leveson or the cross-party charter.

The industry has ignored the royal charter-backed regulatory route and set up its own new body, the Independent Press Standards Organisation, which formally replaces the Press Complaints Commission on Monday.

Almost 60% of articles containing a viewpoint were critical or negative, while only a minority of coverage sought to be balanced, the study concluded.

The Daily Mail had the most negative coverage, with 67% of all articles only containing a negative viewpoint compared with 2% being positive. According to the MST research, for every article in the Daily Mail that contained a positive-only outlook on Leveson and the charter, there were more than 33 that only presented critical views.

The Sun followed in second place – for every article that had a positive view, 29 negative ones were published.

The study found that of all the papers analysed, the Independent had the highest proportion of articles presenting both views.

The Guardian published the most positive articles, 86, out of a total of 403, with 86 negative pieces, according to the MST research.

The think tank, a persistent critic of press practices with links to the Hacked Off group campaigning for more robust industry regulation, has expanded upon research conducted prior to the publication of the Leveson report that found press coverage of the inquiry had been “overwhelmingly negative”.

Dr Gordon Ramsay, the author of the report and a research fellow at the trust, said: “People may not be surprised to learn that the national press were strongly critical of Leveson and the royal charter, but are likely to be struck by the sheer volume of negative coverage – in commentary and news reports. Most newspaper readers would not have seen a single article that was wholly positive. Indeed, many will hardly have seen a balanced article.”

Researchers also found that articles containing claims of press freedom being threatened often lacked a counter-argument, supporting evidence or a quote by an identified source.

Newspaper leader columns and opinion pieces were found to be highly critical and “hostile” towards Leveson and the charter. Almost 80% of leader articles and 74% of opinion articles in which any view was expressed in the year following Leveson’s report had a negative stance.

The report, which also examined polls conducted at the time on press regulation, claims the national press “failed” to reflect public opinion. Despite polls showing that the majority of the public were supportive of Leveson recommendations, charter agreement and legal underpinning, this was “in contrast to the strongly negative coverage of these issues in the national daily and Sunday press across the whole period of the study”, the MST report said.

“Far from representing the views of the public, or even their own readers, the national press appear to have ignored their own readers’ views in favour of an overwhelmingly one-sided editorial line – an editorial line that was consistent with their own interests,” said Ramsay.

“There certainly wasn’t a diversity of voices. The views of the majority of the public, who supported Leveson and the subsequent settlement, were rarely heard.”

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