This post was originally written by Joe Sandler Clarke at the Huffington Post, and is reprinted with their kind permission. Two more Sun journalists were charged by police last month. Jamie Pyatt, a reporter, and John Edwards, the tabloid's pictures editor, were charged with allegedly making payments in excess of £30,000 to public officials. They face trial on July … [Read more...]
Our detractors attack anything about us except our ideas
With first the Telegraph and now the Times launching substance-free wink-nudge coverage of the Media Reform Coalition, we can say with confidence: we've finally made it. We're famous! … [Read more...]
No, Andrew Gilligan, we do not want content regulation
Have you heard? The Media Reform Coalition is part of a plot by the European Union to take control of the British press. At least that’s what seems to be implied in an article by Andrew Gilligan in this week’s Sunday Telegraph. Normally, we turn the other cheek to these kinds of attacks. But in between the shocking revelations that media academics sometimes talk to each … [Read more...]
It’s not hard to protect the small press from courts
The New Statesman has just announced it will be boycotting the new press regulator because new provisions for exemplary damages in the Crime and Courts Bill "threatened to drag in personal blogs and social media accounts." … [Read more...]
A Historic Moment? Leveson and Accountability Spectacle
By Justin Schlosberg The political furore surrounding the late night-deal over press regulation announced this week would have The Thick Of It writers licking their lips. The nub of the controversy concerns a disagreement over an agreement - whether or not the deal really does give statutory underpinning to the new press regulator, and hence, which party leader walks away … [Read more...]
Let‘s move on from brutish journalism, and rebuild trust
by Mike Jempson If the press think they have been dealt a bad hand by the Royal Charter, they have only their own to blame. Those who broke the law, or trampled on the rights of others with little regard for the consequences, have ruined it for everyone else. Editors and proprietors who rushed to the defence of the Press Complaints Commission whenever it was criticised … [Read more...]
This Was Your Leveson: a reflection on recent months
So here we are. The United Kingdom will now have some kind of statute-backed independent self-regulation thing - presuming the press actually signs up. After Cameron's withdrawal from cross-party talks put us all on war footing, he and the other two party leaders pulled a deal out of the hat in the small hours of Monday morning. Did the Prime Minister think he could win a … [Read more...]