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Monday 19 October 2015

Cameron To Rat Over Leveson

Just how secure do Young Dave and his jolly good chaps feel, now that they have their Parliamentary majority and a supposedly useless opposition leader? The answer is that they do not, and are so concerned that they will need their pals in the press to play cheerleader for them in future elections that Cameron is prepared to rat on a promise he gave, to the House of Commons, regarding the Leveson Inquiry.
This is what Dave told the House of Leveson’s report: “Lord Justice Leveson sets out proposals for independent self-regulation organised by the media … He details the key ‘requirements’ that an independent self-regulatory body should meet, including: independence of appointments and funding; a standards code; an arbitration service; and a speedy complaint-handling mechanism - crucially it must have the power to demand up-front, prominent apologies and impose million-pound fines”.

He went on “These are the Leveson principles … They are the central recommendations of the report … If they can be put in place, we truly will have a regulatory system that delivers public confidence, justice for the victims, and a step-change in the way the press is regulated in our country. I accept these principles and I hope the whole House will come behind them and the onus should now be on the press to implement them and implement them radically”. That is an unequivocal commitment.

However, and here we encounter a significantly sized however, the right-leaning part of the press, most of which supports the Tories, is now screaming blue murder at the prospect of provisions in the Crime And Courts Act leaving them liable to pay both sides’ costs if they refuse to use a low-cost arbitration service, denying this option to claimants and thereby forcing them to risk betting the house - perhaps literally - on securing redress.

Now has come the news that the Tories are so scared shitless of the Fourth Estate that they are seriously considering refusing to table the relevant provisions in that Crime And Courts Act in order to appease the press and so continue to receive slavish and uncritical treatment from our allegedly free and fearless press, at least until the next General Election, which they will therefore hope to win, partly as a result of that coverage.

You think I jest? Culture Secretary John Whittingdale has today saidI have to say that at the moment, I am not convinced the time is right for the introduction of these costs provisions … Given the changes under way within the industry, the introduction of the new exemplary damages provisions, and the pressures on the industry, I question whether this additional step, now, will be positive and will lead to the changes I want to see”.

Think about that. All those fine words put on record. All those commitments to the victims of press misbehaviour. All the talk of cross-party consensus. But now, our brave Prime Minister is willing to rat on his commitment, and does not even have the backbone to come clean and say so, leaving the deed to Whittingdale. But if Cameron thinks this will se him right, he’s got another think coming. He’ll be OK only until the press mess up again.

Next time, there will be no ifs and no buts. And he will not come out of it well.

3 comments:

Andy McDonald said...

And once again the question - if the broadsheet media, the radio, internet and TV news services, the vast majority of media in foreign countries ALL manage to produce incisive, informative, enlightening content while playing within the rules, what is so special about the British tabloid press that they apparently cannot do so, and must be allowed complete dispensation to do whatever they want?

I'd not mind quite so much, if the results in some way justified it. But when you see all that rule breaking wasted on who off Corrie shagged who, it really makes you wonder what any of it was worth.

Yeah, yeah, British tabloids, best in the world. As said by themselves, frequently.

Anonymous said...

"Culture" secretary Whittingdale is a perfect successor to Hunt - you remember HIM, the rictus-grinning tory arse head who was about to hand over even more Brit media to Creepy Rupe until the hacking scandal broke. Then beat a hasty retreat to Health - where of course he's preparing to sell off even more of the NHS to his public school chums in private "health care." So now Whittingdale is selling out even more to Creepy Rupe. Naturally.

Meanwhile, Cameron is a gutless Eton gobshite and spiv of the worst kind. His big mistake was in performing his public duty a couple of times (Hillsborough and Leveson), both of which earned him the undying hatred of Creepy Rupe and Nazi Dacre and their boot boy lackeys. Which is why he wants out before the next election. But he'll do some terrible damage before he goes.

If you think it's bad now......wait. It's going to get a whole lot worse as Boy George, Treezer and Bozo de Piffle try to prove they are even worse Nastzis. You've seen NOTHING yet.

rob said...

Once upon a time in the west there was a tea party held by those colonists who wanted no taxation imposed by their government overseas without representation.

Now we, for it was our government who tried it on before, allow representation to foreign individual media owners who don't pay tax but are allowed free reign to bribe our public officials (under the cover of being journalists). And that's apart from spreading their own gospel and putting pressure on politicians who don't follow their agenda.

Cheese and wine soirée for Hacked Off anyone?