David Cameron’s opening pitch in the ‘Leveson’ chapter of his autobiography is that, when he took over as leader of the Conservative party in 2005, he wanted “an arm’s-length approach to the press” – the underlying message being that he was no eager puppet of newspaper proprietors. Continue reading
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Tag: David Cameron (Page 1 of 2)
The Prime minister starts every day by reading The Sun a jury was told yesterday. The claim came during the testimony of the tabloid’s former chief reporter John Kay, who when challenged by the judge about how he would know that replied “I can assure you of that” Continue reading
The phone hacking trial of originally eight and finally seven defendants finally concluded yesterday, 25 June 2014, having begun on 28 October 2013. It end with a verdict of guilty on Count 1, conspiracy to intercept voicemails, against former News of the World Editor Andy Coulson. The jury were unable to agree on two charges of conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office against Andy Coulson and Clive Goodman. The other five defendants – Rebekah Brooks, Stuart Kuttner, Charlie Brooks, Cheryl Carter and Mark Hanna – we acquitted on all charges. Continue reading
In the dying days of the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) the Prime Minister has found himself on the receiving end of a successful complaint over his public spat with senior clerics about the hardship caused by government welfare changes. Continue reading
This country is now very close to settling a problem that has plagued it for generations. The problem was this: how to protect ordinary citizens from lying, bullying and unjustified intrusion carried out in the name of journalism, while at the same time ensuring that journalists were free to do the job they need to do to sustain our democracy. Continue reading
We have been here before. Delays, legal manoeuvres, and desperate scaremongering as the national press tries to stave off even the mildest form of accountability. Self-serving politicians desperate to suppress the truth? Try this: “One of the greatest canards of the past few years has been that ‘ordinary’ people need privacy laws to protect them from a rapacious Press. This mantra is chanted incessantly by politicians when in fact what they really want is protection for themselves.” (Daily Mail, 30 July, 1993). Continue reading
If you decide to keep a dangerous dog, well-known for its generally intemperate and often vicious nature, and ignore, or worse, deny the constant and sensible advice you are given pointing out the danger you can hardly expect much sympathy when that dog bites you. And so it is that David Cameron’s pitiful cries of foul play will fall on deaf ears. Continue reading
The Open Rights Group is asking people to sign a petition asking David Cameron not to require Internet Service Providers to switch on ‘adult’ web filters by default, meaning that anyone who wishes to access certain kinds of material online will have to ask their ISP to switch off the filter. Continue reading
The Prime Minister has told a press conference that the Conservatives are pulling out of cross party talks about the implementation of the Leveson report. He said that regulation would not work without the consent of the press. He accepted that, as a result, the matter would be decided by Parliament on Monday 18 March 2013, when there would be a vote on “Leveson amendments” to the Crime and Courts Bill. Continue reading
The national papers are desperately scratching around for the names of people who might be regarded as sufficiently independent to serve on their new regulator. Let’s give them some help.
First, editors and proprietors are anything but independent. They are not only wholly partisan, but most of them are tainted by their longtime advocacy of the discredited Press Complaints Commission and by their record of, as the Leveson report puts it, ‘wreaking havoc in the lives of ordinary people’. So the less they have to do with setting up an independent regulatory body that is supposed to put the interests of the public before those of the industry, the better. Continue reading
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