Leverson: A waste of time...

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30 November 2012

...not because of the abuses he identified and brought out into the open but for the ill conceived conclusions he has come up with.

First of all we are talking about crime - criminal offences carried out by journalists. Why would such criminals obey new press regulations when they were so willing to break the law in the first place? The failure, of course, lays with the police who ignored and did not properly investigate suspicions of criminal activity by journalists. Yet the police get off scot free as far as Leverson is concerned.

Leverson went for the easy and obvious target - the free press. He decided on the easy approach, journalists broke the law so regulate journalists... A typical beaurocratic and highly political approach for those who love litigation and jobs for the boys. Lots of nice convenient tick boxes to complete - yippee.

Freedom of speech is a rare and treasured thing. It is also a 'very delicate flower' and needs a lot of TLC and nurturing. It can so easily be undermined. Over the last 10-15 years we have seen significant constraints placed on this treasure. The 'flower' is wilting.

Ill-considered legislation and poor interpretation of the law plus the cancer of political correctness has seriously undermined free speech. People are actually getting arrested and investigated for saying 'the wrong things'. People are afraid to cause offence even when offence is not intended. How many times does someone say in conversation 'ohh am I allowed to say that?' It drives me mad, yes - SAY IT, exercise your freedom of speech. Freedom to give offence and the freedom to take offence is essential in any civilised free society. If you are offended, great - get over it, if you have to grow a backbone then do so. Things have got pretty bad in this country when it comes to freedom of speech and, as I said, the flower is wilting.

What will, with absolute certainty, kill that flower is state regulation and interference in the free press.

No totalitarian power was born fully formed. In 1933 Germany did not instantly become a fully fledged Nazi totalitarian state, in 1918 a totalitarian communist regime did not arrived fully formed. These oppressive regimes come about over a period of time, gradually the state takes upon itself more and more power. A little here, a little there. Gradually, by stealth, freedoms get eroded.

State regulation of the press, even if well intentioned, is the narrow end of the wedge. Give a bit to the State and the State will take a bit more, and more... Regulatory underpinning of press regulation may sound harmless - but it is not.

A free press is a cornerstone for our freedom. Yes our press is not perfect - nothing is ever perfect. Yes sometimes they will abuse that freedom and will need to be exposed and censured for it, sometimes a journalist will cross the line into illegal activity and will need to be charged, tried and jailed. But none of this is a reason to bring in even the most innocent seeming state involvement in regulating the press.

Those politicians who back state regulation of the media should be ashamed of themselves. Make no mistake, these people, of whatever Party, are trying to take on more power for themselves and their friends. They think they know better than other mere mortals and politicians thinking that are a danger to us and our freedom.

Guest 710 wrote:
Yes Barry, much that went on was illegal, plain and simple. That heads have not rolled is lamentable, lamentable and par for the course.
Much that was illegal, and more that was unethical does seem to have had the tacit approval of the big players within Westminster. Leaking, briefing against and muck-raking became the norm and stemmed from an over easy relationship between the Political 'Elite' and the Press which in turn stemmed from an over-friendly and co-dependent relationship between Government and the Police that typifies much of Thatcher's time in office:with the Poll Tax and the Miners Strike.
Totalitarian Power may well have started somewhere, but doesn't everything start somewhere?
The Leverson proposal for independent oversight to replace the present chummy industry-manned PCC is a good and fair beginning, but begs the question:Will it, could it, be enough?
Maybe other approaches could help, other, more general, legislation.
-Limits on media ownership?
-Stipulation the all media ownership must be by a UK Citizen?
-Compensation should be unlimited and tied to sales income?
Ross Miller wrote:
Leveson as a judge and lawyer came up with a lawyers solution - no surprises there

What he has done is shine a light into some very unsavoury dark places in our press and for that he should be lauded.

Barry you are right that the Police clearly had opportunity to investigate and seek prosecution and Leveson castigates them for failing to do so - rightly.

As for his proposals, there is very little that can really be called statutory control in them, though that is possibly too much. The suggestion that a new more powerful, truly independent body should regulate the press is sensible as is giving it the right to not only fine its members, but also to stipulate the position and form of apologies and retractions. Where he perhaps gets it wrong is suggesting a role for Ofcom.
Guest 640 wrote:
What Prime Minister's do when they are in a hot sticky and uproarious position is commission a report. This has the double edged benefit of calming things down and kicking the problem further up the road and maybe hopefully into the long grass. By then, so the theory goes, the problem will have dissipated and the oul PM will wriggle off the pressure hook.

This time alas it hasnt happened. The pressure is still there, nobody has forgotten anything and nothing has calmed down. Since yesterday 40,000 people have signed a letter as it were asking that the full report by acted upon. This in just 24 hours and you can bet with much more to come,

Mr Cameron it seems wants the press to continue to regulate itself which isnt going down at all well with either the general public or the victims such as the McCanns or the Dowlers or Mr Jefferies. Last night a red faced Mrs Miller, new culture secretary, who appears out of her depth and did from the word go..has said that it is now up to the newspaper barons to come up with the solution. This sounds truly awful and truly weak, no mistake about that...especially following on from a hugely expensive commissioned report which filled our airwaves daily..each day revealing further nasty horrors, not to mention the cringe-worthy embarassments at the highest levels.