Leveson’s stick and carrot for wary press

The final words of Lord Justice Leveson’s summary of his proposals for reforming and regulating an “outrageous” press that has lost sight of the responsibilities that go with its rights and freedoms are an appeal to the public and to politicians. Lord Justice Leveson tells the public that he has done what “I believe is fair and right for everyone.” He tells politicians that he expects them to treat his recommendations to provide the press with its first truly effective self-regulatory body in the same cross-party spirit that arose from the outrage over the phone hacking scandal in July 2011.

He says: “This is not, and cannot be characterized as, statutory regulation of the press.” That the judge felt the need to do this shows how hard his task has been, in the face of powerful lobbying by newspaper groups talking up a potential threat to press freedom. His recommendations for an “independent, self-regulating body” ought to – on the face of it – put those fears to rest because he stresses that independence of the government and politicians is as important as independence from newspaper owners. However, in order to ensure both that media organizations want to join the body, and that rich individuals will choose to use it rather than the courts to settle disputes, he has had to suggest an “underpinning” with law that many opponents will focus on. He says legislation will also create a duty on governments to uphold the freedom of the press, which seems an odd construction in a democracy, and unlikely to persuade those who see a slippery slope to an over interventionist state.