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Right of Reply and Press Standards Bill
145/Tim Gopsill
2/7/05: The Campaign supported the initiative taken by Labour MP Peter Bradley to revive the idea of a right to reply to force newspapers and magazines to correct inaccuracies in print. His Right of Reply and Press Standards Bill was debated - surprisingly - in the Commons on February 25 but it will go no further.
The Bill aimed to provide a quick and effective alternative to the civil courts and the Press Complaints Commission. It proposed a mechanism through which aggrieved parties could get an adjudicator to require papers to correct inaccuracies. Any paper that conteted the order could go to a body called the Press Standards Board, whose decisions, if the matter went that far, could have been enforced by the High Court.
In the 45-minute debate, the Bill was opposed by the education minister, Derek Twigg, the ‘duty minister’ fielding all the Private Members Bills that day. There were few MPs present, and when it came to the vote, the Bill was actually defeated by 12 votes to 6! And since the Commons quorum is 40, that was the end of it.
The CPBF said: ‘We believe these issues are important not only to journalists, but to the public and others including politicians. We believe that there should be a serious public debate on devising a framework to enforce the publication of corrections. The debate about media standards has increased in the past year - this bill makes an important contribution to that debate.’
The Right of Reply was one of the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom’s early demands when it was set up in 1979. With an ineffective Press Complaints Commission, the case today is even stronger than it was 20 years ago.
The Bill was the seventh in a line of parliamentary attempts at a bill offering a right of reply. The first was the late Frank Allaun’s Private Members Bill in 1983. It failed to get a second reading. Three other bills followed in 1984, 1988 and 1989 before Clive Soley introduced his Freedom and Responsibility of the Press Bill in 1992. That was defeated on its third reading in 1993.
Peter Bradley’s Bill recognized that the present system of voluntary regulation of the press is unsatisfactory. The bill would introduce a very moderate measure of redress through a simple, quick and accountable system. It would also support journalists by encouraging and promoting the best traditions of journalism, thereby improving press standards.
Last modified: Saturday, July 2, 2005
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Second reading for Right of Reply
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Events & Announcements
World Press Freedom Day
More reporters are currently imprisoned in Turkey than in any other country in the world. Only a matter of weeks ago lawyers failed to persuade a Turkish court to release a 76-year-old journalist from a Turkish internet news station.
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.
DATELINE: 27/4/13
UK launch of EU media campaign
DATELINE: 13/3/13
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).
A European Citizens' Initiative is an official petition, like a Downing Street petition. If it succeeds in gathering a million signatures across the EU, the Commission is obliged to respond.
This petition calls for the EU to act to protect media pluralism and press freedom.
CPBF Annual General Meeting
DATELINE: 1/3/13
Make a note in your diary
Saturday 13 July 2013 from 10.00am
NUJ HQ, 308/312 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1.
Leveson, media ownership, CPBF future work.
DOWNLOAD FREEPRESS NOW
DATELINE: 26/3/10
Download Freepress in PDF, ePub or mobi format. Issue 194 now available.
MEDIA FOR ALL CONFERENCE
DATELINE: 26/3/10
Papers from the Media for All Conference
MEDIA MANIFESTO
DATELINE: 26/3/10
The media’s job is to inform and entertain us but we rely on them too to tell us what our rulers and representatives are up to. In the run-up to the Iraq war the government used spin and disinformation in the media to create panic and mislead people. The truth is coming out now, but we need stronger, more independent media to be able to scrutinise governments and make informed choices.
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