for diverse, democratic and accountable media
After the great build-up to the publication of the Leveson Report, and then a day of great drama at Westminster, all eyes are now on the newspaper proprietors. Can they deliver on the ultimatum made by the Prime Minister – that unless they work out and accept the introduction of an independent regulator of the press then the government might have to intervene and perhaps Parliament would have to be asked to pass legislation to enforce effective standards which is precisely what Lord Justice Leveson proposed.
The devil is in the detail however, and behind the scenes manoeuvring between newspaper proprietors and Conservative ministers has fuelled concern in the National Union of Journalists that there may be a stitch-up over establishing independent regulation of the press.
In the latest CPBF podcast Nicholas Jones heard the views of Frances O’Grady, the new TUC general secretary, Michelle Stanistreet, leader of the National Union of Journalists, and Julian Petley, co-chair of the CPBF and professor of media studies at Brunel University.