LONDON: British Prime Minister David Cameron will meet national newspaper editors and owners next week to urge them to agree a time-frame for setting up a new press watchdog, a government spokesman said.
The meeting follows proposals set out by judge Brian Leveson in a major report into press ethics in Britain, conducted in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal at Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World, which was published on Thursday.
The meeting, tomorrow, will be hosted by Maria Miller, the culture minister who has responsibility for the media. Miller will appeal to the powerful group not to “drag its feet” in establishing a new regulator, the culture ministry spokesman said. Cameron hopes the new body will help quash claims that a new law is needed to make it truly effective.
The main agenda will be trying to “set a timeframe for a response” from the newspaper industry to Leveson’s recommendation for independent self-regulation of the press, the spokesman added.
Britain’s press currently regulates itself through the Press Complaints Commission (PCC), a body staffed by editors. Its critics say it is toothless and partly responsible for a failure to punish journalists for harassment, invasion of privacy and the hacking of voicemail messages.
Parliament will debate Leveson’s proposals today when Miller will make a statement to fellow lawmakers, the spokesman added. Miller’s special adviser Joanna Hindley said that Miller would press the newspaper industry figures to come up with a timetable for setting up a new regulator “within a few weeks”.
“She will be holding their feet to the fire,” Hindley said, adding that Miller would tell the industry “that the status quo is not acceptable.” Hindley confirmed that Richard Desmond, proprietor of the mid-market Daily Express and Daily Star tabloid, would be at the meeting. Desmond, one of Britain’s most controversial media barons, owns a media empire that also includes celebrity magazine OK!, Channel 5 television and several adult channels.
Hindley said Miller will lead further cross-party talks on the Leveson recommendations today and tomorrow morning.
AFP
