UK media cautious over press regulation plan

Newspaper groups gave a cautious reaction to the UK government’s plans for press regulation, with some warning that “deeply contentious” issues remained unresolved.

Executives from some of the UK’s biggest newspapers groups are understood to be furious that the government failed to consult them on the Royal Charter plans as they were finalized on march 17 – even though members of Hacked Off, the lobby group pressing for tougher press regulation, were present in the negotiating room. Daily Mail Group, Telegraph Media Group and News International said in a joint statement: “We would like to make it clear that, contrary to reports broadcast by the BBC, no representative of the newspaper and magazine industry had any involvement in, or indeed any knowledge of, the cross-party talks on press regulation that took place on Sunday night.” The groups said they would need time to study the proposals, “early drafts of which contained several deeply contentious issues which have not yet been resolved with the industry”. The groups are concerned about the statute that would be introduced to back the Royal Charter, as well as the regulator’s broad powers to launch investigations and force newspapers to place apologies and corrections in positions of equal prominence to the original article.