By Kevin McCauley
The British press needs a tougher regulatory body to rein in abuses such as the hacking scandal at Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World, according to a highly anticipated report released today by a U.K. judicial watchdog.
Judge Brian Leveson did not call for a governmental body to monitor the media, rather an independent group empowered to fine wrongdoing. “Putting a policeman in every newsroom is no sort or answer,” he said.
Leveson is not out to muzzle the freedom of the press. The media serve the country “very well for the vast majority of the time,” according to the report.
He recognizes “most of what the press does is good journalism free from the sort of vices I have had to address at length.” He believes “it is essential that the need for a fresh start in press regulation is fully embraced and a new regime thereafter implemented.”
Of the current press code, Leveson said: “There have been too many times when, chasing the story, parts of the press has acted if its own code, which it wrote, simply did not exist.”
That has caused “real hardship, and on occasion, wreaked havoc with the lives of innocent people whose rights and liberties have been disdained.”
Leveson, which began in probe in July 2011, considers it the “most concentrated look at the press this country has ever seen.”
Prime Minister David Cameron, who called for the inquiry, said he welcomed Leveson’s findings, but has “serious concerns and misgivings” over the statutory regulation recommendation.
The report wants a body regulatory group with power to fine offending newspapers up to $1.6M. Members would not be from the media, legal or government community. |