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Leveson Inquiry: PCC chief says appetite for fresh start
BBC News web site
DATELINE: 31/1/12
Lord Hunt told the Leveson Inquiry into press ethics that he had seen state regulation "go very badly wrong". He had consulted on proposals, and felt "there is a willingness to accept a fresh start and a new body".
His predecessor, Sir Christopher Meyer, also said he supported self-regulation.
Lord Hunt, who has been in his job since October, said he wanted to see the "participation of the whole industry in its own regulation".
He said: "There are very strong views in Parliament that there must be stronger limits on the power of the press and this would therefore, in my mind, open a Pandora's box."
Inquiry chairman Lord Justice Leveson asked him: "Do you think that Parliament might seek to use any form of legislation, however it was cast, as a way of controlling the press?"
He replied: "Yes, and they have told me so, many of them, in both houses."
Sir Christopher Meyer told the Leveson Inquiry that the PCC had "made particular efforts" to make themselves available to Kate and Gerry McCann
He said part of the self-regulation was that newspapers should ensure internal compliance and complaints mechanisms should operate properly -"the admiral on the bridge should know what is happening in the engine room".
He said a new regulator should have two arms: one to deal with complaints and mediation, and the other for auditing standards and compliance.
He said he had spoken to "the whole range of publications".
"I sense there is a willingness to accept a fresh start and a new body."
His proposals include a five-year rolling contract for the publishers to sign up to.
Sir Christopher earlier told the Leveson Inquiry that legislation could be taken advantage of if the state became "less conscious of our freedoms".
Anti-terror legislation was an example of how the state could act in an authoritarian way, he said.
In his evidence to the inquiry into press standards and practices, Sir Christopher said that the current system of self-regulation in the UK was basically "as good as you're going to get".
He was chairman of the PCC when the phone-hacking scandal at the News of the World (NoW) first broke in August 2006.
He said that he was concerned that the phone-hacking scandal could lead to the introduction of regulation that would be more oppressive than it needed to be.
"Once you allow the state into this area, whatever the best intentions may have been, you are by definition standing on the top of a slippery slope.
"Twenty, 25 years later, things change, politics change, it is quite possible a less permissive and liberal state, less conscious of our freedoms, might try to take advantage of that legislation to do things that would be offensive to the principle of freedom of expression."
He sighed. Often. He jabbed his fingers. Repeatedly. And he uttered the phrase "for Pete's sake". Three times.
This was a former diplomat in a bit of a lather over the way the organisation he had chaired for six years was being scrutinised by this inquiry.
There were plenty of verbal jousting and testy exchanges. At one point, Sir Christopher Meyer said to the inquiry barrister: "Please Mr Jay, can you forget the amateur psychology."
Away from the wordplay, at the heart of his evidence was a robust defence of the status quo - self-regulation by the PCC.
But it's his bon mots, rather than his evidence which is likely to linger. Sir Christopher Meyer apologised for "pushing back" from time to time. But, he said, it was preferable to sitting in the witness box "like a coconut".
Sir Christopher said he was a strong believer in the freedom of the press and its self-regulation and that he believed "very firmly" that the PCC was a regulator.
In March 2008, the parents of missing girl Madeleine McCann won a libel settlement and apology from Express Newspapers for suggesting they were responsible for their daughter's death. He said the McCanns had needed the press for publicity's sake, when their daughter disappeared in Portugal in 2007, but had been forced to strike a "Faustian bargain". Sir Christopher said Portuguese police had been "leaking like sieves" and journalists under pressure to keep the story running had started taking risks. "It is something that happens from time to time, and in this case it led to the McCanns being accused of something which is utterly abominable."
Sir Christopher said that the PCC had to be close to the industry it regulated and that he tried to take every national editor out to lunch once a year. But he denied being a "lap dog".
"If you think that I was sitting in their pocket not daring to do things that they disliked, then think again."
Lord Grade, chairman of the BBC between 2004 and 2006, was appointed to the PCC in May 2011, and said in his first few months he was "really surprised" by the extent of intervention by the PCC before publication "to stop some of the worst excesses".
He said he objected to statutory regulation because it would raise the prospect of judicial review, and the complaints process would be slower.
The Leveson Inquiry was set up by Prime Minister David Cameron in July 2011 amid new revelations of phone hacking at the now-defunct newspaper.
The first phase is examining the practices and ethics of the press.
A second phase of the inquiry, after a police investigation into phone hacking at the NoW is complete, will focus on unlawful conduct by the press and the police's initial hacking investigation.
Last modified: Tuesday, January 31, 2012
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World Press Freedom Day on Friday May 3, 2013 is being marked in Britain by a rally to highlight the dangers facing journalists in Turkey and in this podcast, Nicholas Jones speaks to Barry White, Organiser at the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, and Sam Bamford, the TUC's policy officer for Eastern Europe and Africa about the importance of a campaign to highlight international press freedom.
The World Press Freedom Day rally is being staged by the National Union of Journalists at the NUJ head office, Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1 on Thursday May 2, 6pm-8pm.
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The UK launch of a 'European Citizens' Initiative' calling for EU rules against concentration of media power will take place on Thursday March 21 from 11:00am – 12:30pm in Committee Room 4A at the House of Lords, London. Guest speakers will include actor and activist Hugh Grant (pictured), media consultant Claire Enders, Professor Steven Barnett, Barry McCall (President of the NUJ) and Marc Gruber (Director of the European Federation of Journalists).
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Previous stories
Leveson Inquiry
Chilling effect on BBC journalism of licence freeze: a warning to Leveson Inquiry
Co-ordinating Committee for Media Reform call for change
BBC Trust chairman Lord Patten rebukes David Cameron
Opinion: "Leveson: reasons to be wary of press promises"
Cameron's links with the Murdoch press: only superficial probing at Leveson
Press Freedom: a democratic rubric
Leveson Inquiry edges closer to Cameron
James Murdoch 'shown damning email'
Rupert Murdoch met David Cameron at Downing Street twice during BSkyB bid
The Leveson Inquiry: Should We Care?
Leveson Inquiry kicks off but ministers could still act
Ditch the PCC: CPBF backs inquiry into the ethics and culture of the press
