Press watchdog plan put forward
Newspapers and magazines have taken the first steps towards setting up a new press watchdog in the wake of the phone hacking scandal - and were immediately criticised by campaigners.
Plans for the creation of the Independent Press Standards Organisation, which will have the power to impose fines of up to £1 million and force editors to publish upfront corrections, will go out to consultation with publishers following Lord Justice Leveson's call for a new regulator to be created.
But Hacked Off, which represents some of the victims of phone hacking, claimed the move was a "cynical rebranding exercise" that showed the industry was "determined to hold on to the power to bully the public without facing any consequences".
Documents drawn up by the Industry Implementation Group will be considered by more than 200 publishers before being finalised in the next few weeks. They set out the structure and rules of the organisation, echoing those outlined in the royal charter put forward by the industry earlier this year, which is going before the Privy Council.
That process may take months but the industry is pushing ahead with the creation of the independent self-regulator now because "the industry does not believe the public can be expected to wait longer before a new regulator is put in place", according to a statement.
The independent Foundation Group, chaired by former president of the Supreme Court Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, is ready to start the process of selecting the first members of the Appointment Panel for the new body, it added.
Hacked Off said the plans meant the industry was effectively saying it would only meet its own "appallingly low" standards. Brian Cathcart, executive director of Hacked Off, said: "This is no more than a cynical rebranding exercise, the latest rearguard action by press proprietors and editors who want to defy the will of Parliament and of the Leveson Inquiry. They are determined to hold on to the power to bully the public without facing any consequences.
"They have been told by Lord Justice Leveson and by Parliament that they must set up a self-regulator that meets basic standards of independence and effectiveness. What they are saying here is that they will not meet those standards but they will meet their own, which are appallingly low.
"The body behind this is Press Board of Finance, a small, shadowy group of powerful press bosses who were condemned by Leveson for the cynical way they pretended for decades to run a regulator but in fact secretly ensured that nothing it did would ever challenge their power. These same people are currently, through their lawyers, doing all in their power to stall the final approval of the royal charter based on Leveson and agreed by all parties in Parliament on 18 March.
"By their actions they are telling the public that they are not answerable to judges, and not subject to the democratic will of Parliament. They are telling us that they are outlaws. Hacked Off, their many supporters and the victims of press abuses will continue their campaign to bring them to book."
