Rejoice, rejoice rejoice!

Thanks Jack.

The press doesn't need legislative regulation, the press needs an organ organized by themselves with the contractual powers to order them to run blacked out front pages, no promotion etc. when a paper fucks up.

Combine the Norwegian and Swedish system, they work very well without any need for legal regulation.

OK, could you give us a summary please?

I don't think that new laws will help either, the politicians will fuck it up.

The press should be controlled on the excesses, like inaccurate articles, going through rubbish bins, tiny appologies after whopping wrong headlines, harrassing both celebs and real people, etc.

They have been waaaay too naughty for too long, time to stop and behave, but still report stories unhindered.
 
Cameron has already spiked the report's guns; to get good headlines in the (Surprise) papers tomorrow. The press and TV are blathering on about the freedom of the press - UK country with the most stringent libel laws in Western Society. I am just so sick of it all - Levinson is doing a runner to Australia for the winter, out of the way.
 
tiny appologies after whopping wrong headlines, harrassing both celebs and real people, etc.

Hard to call this an apology.
YESTERDAY at the High Court in Dublin, The Sun settled Louis Walsh?s libel claim against The Sun concerning our article from last June 2011 in which we reported what transpired to be the entirely false allegation that Louis was being investigated in relation to a sexual assault on Leonard Watters.

Leonard Watters had made a false statement to the Irish Police and he has since been convicted. The Sun fully accepts that this alleged assault did not occur and Louis is entirely innocent of any such assault.

We have apologised in Court to Louis for our article and we have undertaken not to republish it.

We have also agreed to pay Louis substantial damages in compensation and to pay his legal costs. Sorry Louis.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article4671535.ece
 
Just wonderful to see all the scumbag press fanboys jumping up and down trying to impress their masters.
Most members of the press don't believe in regulating the press. I'd be happy defending even the Sun's right not to get regulated. See further down in this post for my counter-proposals.

Thanks Jack.
OK, could you give us a summary please?
The system is first and foremost predicated on the fact that running a newspaper without being a member of PFU (Press trade council) makes you look like a complete and imoral oaf. Doesn't matter, membership is a premise for running a paper. Being a member, you agree to comply with the three sets of rules; the "Be Careful-poster" relating to the ethics of journalism and how the job of journalism should be carried out, the "Editor's poster" which talks about the role of the editor(s) in the publication, and ethics related to that, and last but not least, the "hidden advertisement poster" which deals with, well, duh, hidden advertisement, such as advertising looking too much like an editorial story, for instance because someone paid you to do it.

I've worked within several editorial groups, and the one thing you'd be told in your first ever meeting with your new editor was always how you were expected to work within the range of these 'rules'. While there are a large number of successful "prosecutions" by the PFU, it breaks down to a very low number for most papers, and a somewhat higher one for the larger tabloids. It's not really about prosecutions, as there's no real penalty (except having to print an apology), it's more a question of pride, a question of working within the ethics of the profession. Being struck down by the PFU is not something anyone wants within the Norwegian press. So that alone acts as a form of civilizing force, making our papers more accountable but still maintaining the legal defence of press freedom. The press ethics in Norway go far beyond the law, let's be clear about that.

The one thing I'd like to see changed is to take what I believe is what the Swedish press can potentially be sanctioned with. If you really fuck up in Sweden, I believe this press trade council have the authority to order a paper to run parts of it's front page blacked out. Or even it's whole front page.

I propose taking it a step further. Give the press trade council the mandate to write the apologies on these black banners. Imagine, if you please, a completely black front page except the red logo of the Sun sticking out at the top. And in great white letters "The Sun bollocked [name] for no good reason, we're a bunch of c*cksuckers" or whatnot? After a few of those, I'm sure the Sun would start acting properly.

I'll be happy to go into more detail if anyone wants to. As a journalist, I still carry the codes in a little pink folder in my wallet.

That's a matter for the individual court; couldn't the judge, theoreticly, site the Sun (or better yet, it's editor?) for contempt of court and order a more proper apology?

I have to say, though, that I'm highly critical of the British libel laws. There are people trying to start independent publications in the UK who can't afford it, not because they don't have the running costs, but because they need to be ready from day one to pay out up to a million pounds if some court finds they've libeled someone. It makes proper journalism hard, and I also think it's a more general challenge to freedom of speech. It's not like the libel laws have put a stop to gutter press journalism either, so whatever the intention was (probably to make mr. Dickens report a little cosier on parliamentarians, I suppose), it's failed. Get rid of it.
 
They broke many laws that did nothing to keep them from breaking them again and again. More laws won't prevent it from happening again.
 
That's a matter for the individual court; couldn't the judge, theoreticly, site the Sun (or better yet, it's editor?) for contempt of court and order a more proper apology?

That was an agreed settlement, and I think the two journalists responsible got canned.



?Questions were there to be asked and simple denials should not have been considered sufficient,? Leveson said in his nearly 2,000-page report. ?This suggests a cover-up by somebody and at more than one level.?
http://www.businessweek.com/news/20...t-evidence-points-to-cover-up-leveson-reports


The Metropolitan police sneaked in a disturbing last minute submission on Nov 21st, too late to make this report. Seems to be at odds with John Yates.
?On more than one occasion in meetings I attended in 2009, with AC
John Yates and others advising him, I voiced my concern that the
original investigation could and should be re-opened or re-examined
and suggested either HMIC or another Force undertake such a task. I
explained that the reasons for ending all activity in 2006, including the
victim notification strategy, no longer existed in 2009. DCS Williams can
confirm this as he was present, as can DCS Clive Timmons who was
also present.?

?Third, I set out my view on the possibility that the criminality extended
beyond Mulcaire and Goodman. It was a view held jointly by DCS
Williams and myself that the phone interception and other criminal
conduct of Mulcaire and Goodman was not limited to them, and that the
criminality extended further. This view is clearly expressed in the
decision log of the Operation.?
http://www.tom-watson.co.uk/2012/12...ates-has-yet-more-serious-questions-to-answer
 
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She can invest in horse shit for all I care.
 
22 phone-hacking victims who have settled their claims against News of the World publisher News International, the high court heard on Friday.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/dec/14/phone-hacking-jamie-theakston-settle-claims


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