Britain has a new official press regulator – but the press are refusing to be regulated by it
The UK has a new, officially-recognised press regulator, but the majority of the press have refused to join it.
The Press Recognition Panel (PRP) has officially recognised Impress as a regulator that meets the requirements set out by Lord Justice Leveson, who conducted an inquiry into press ethics.
It is unclear at this stage how significant this approval is for publications that are not members of Impress.
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If the government invokes Section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act, titles would be punished for not joining the official regulator by being forced to pay the legal costs of those who sue them for libel – regardless of the outcome of the case.
However, comments from culture secretary Karen Bradley yesterday suggested she would not trigger the new rules.
Newspapers body the News Media Association was disappointed that the PRP had recognised Impress, “a regulator funded by Max Mosley and set up in order to trigger punitive sanctions against Britain’s press”.
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But deputy chief executive Lynne Anderson added:
We welcome reports that the government has decided to pull back from implementing Section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act, which would inhibit a free press and have a crippling effect on regional and local newspapers…
Not a single significant national or regional newspaper or magazine has signed up to the state-sponsored system of regulation under the PRP.