Leveson - squeaky bum time? : Wed Nov 28, 2012 9:09 am
So Camoron gets his preview of the first part of Leveson at noon today and the report published to the wider audience 24 hours later. What can we expect?Personally, no matter what Leveson proposes, I reckon we'll end up with yet another "final chance" for the press to clean their own act up and the whole thing will get kicked into the long grass. The Press Complaints Commission may be given more teeth but they'll eventually prove to be as tough as those foam sweetie things in a pic 'n' mix.
I don't want to see a return of press licensing that was last seen during the English Civil War but there should be a system whereby a newspaper can no longer decide to opt out of the PCC, as the Express has done. There should also be a more robust (and less expensive) method of the falsely maligned being able to seek redress from delinquent reporters, without having to resport to expensive civil law cases. Breaches of criminal law, such as hacking phones & computers or stalking should be applied with more vigour. I'd also like to see a system of vicarious liability applied to editors and even proprietors, if they thought they may face some serious jail time, they may be inclined to encourage more responsible reporting.
Either way, we'll probably end up with the newspapers gnashing and wailing in public, while quietly celebrating that they've managed to get away with it again (for now at least)
