British MPs have reached a deal to establish a new press watchdog in the UK, despite fears voiced by Conservative Party leader Prime Minister David Cameron that it could jeopardize freedom of the press in the country.
MPs have reportedly reached a last-minute compromise over new
press regulations. It has allegedly been agreed that the
press watchdog will have the authority to levy six-figure fines of
up to $1.5 million, as well as require newspapers to print
apologies when necessary.
Negotiators initially disagreed on the terms of the proposed
watchdog, which would protect individuals from malicious newspaper
reporters. While all agreed that the press cannot be trusted to
govern itself, many insisted – the Prime Minister among them – that
if regulation of the press is necessary, it should be without
political involvement.
Cameron argued that enshrining media restrictions could erode the
concept of the free press: "The idea of a law, a great,
big, all-singing, all-dancing media law ... would have been bad for
press freedom, bad for individual freedom," the Conservative
Party leader was quoted as saying.
He proposed to protect victims of unruly newspapers through a
royal charter, an executive document that does not require a vote
in Parliament.
Opposition Labour Party leader Ed Miliband urged lawmakers to
"stand up for the victims" of press abuse by formalizing the new
press regulations into law.
Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, whose privacy has been repeatedly
violated by the media, said she and other victims “have been
hung out to dry” by the government.
Talks reportedly continued through the night on March 18, with
Cameron allegedly failing to rally support for his regulatory
scheme. It was reported he was forced to compromise and accept the
opposition parties’ terms, some of which he had earlier described
as “bad for press freedom,” in order to avoid an inevitable
defeat in the House of Commons.
“After five-and-a-half hours of talks in Ed Miliband's office
which ended at 2:30am, we are confident we have the basis of an
agreement around our royal charter entrenched in statute,” a
senior Labour source told the Daily Mail.
The heated debate over media regulation in the UK was triggered by
Lord Justice Leveson's inquiry into press ethics, following
revelations of the illegal practice of phone-hacking by tabloid
journalists.
The scandal resulted in the closure of Rupert Murdoch’s ‘News of
the World’ tabloid in 2011 and a wave of resignations after it
emerged that journalists had regularly eavesdropped on voicemails
and hacked into computers in search of dirt on celebrities.
The UK already has one government-approved regulatory authority,
Ofcom, established in 2003 to protect against “scams and sharp
practices.” The Office of Communications operates under the
so-called ‘Communications Act 2003,’ a parliamentary act that
defines the authority of this ‘super-regulator’ in protecting the
public from what might be considered harmful or offensive
material.