Towards a grand bargain with the press

[Commentary] The trouble with freedom is that it is abused. A justice system that guards the innocent will see thieves and worse go free. Uphold human rights and terrorists will sometimes slip the net. Champion press freedom and newspapers may hack the telephone of a murdered teenager.

Lord Justice Leveson has given his verdict on the “culture, practices and ethics” of the British media. Running like a dark thread through the 2,000-page report are words such as reckless, outrageous, harassment, hacking, surveillance, bribery and corruption. The really damning indictment lies in the exposure of a culture of casual contempt for decency, fairness and privacy in newspapers representing a sizeable chunk of what used to be called Fleet Street. Traducing the innocent; routine disregard for truth; and riding roughshod over individual rights – all were deemed acceptable in the cause of a “good story.” So what is to be done? The first thing to say is that self-regulation does not work. The most striking thing about the behavior of the newspapers in Lord Justice Leveson’s line of fire has been a complete lack of contrition. It is almost as if the real crime of the phone hackers was to get caught. The second thing to say is that, as long as some newspapers believe they should be able to behave as they like, there is no system that will strike a perfect balance between press freedom and the rights of the citizen. The weak and vulnerable need guarantees against the habitual abuse of press power. But Lord Justice Leveson should have gone further in offering protections for the media when it is doing its proper job of holding to account those in positions of authority and influence.

A balanced package would put into statute a provision for a robust public interest defense when the press is scrutinizing the behavior of the mighty. Alongside this, the legislation would include a drastic rebalancing of the burden of proof in the draconian libel laws that now offer an impenetrable shield to those with the money to buy access to the courts. Lord Justice Leveson is right: the press cannot any longer expect to mark its own homework; but neither should the rich and powerful.