From the diary and photo log – a Select Committee trip to the States
Sunday 29 March 2009
We are conducting an inquiry into press standards, privacy and libel asking a number of questions and testing:
Why the self-regulatory regime was not used in the McCann case, why the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) has not invoked its own inquiry and what changes news organisations themselves have made in the light of the case;
· Whether the successful action against the Daily Express and others for libel in the McCann case indicates a serious weakness with the self-regulatory regime;
· The interaction between the operation and effect of UK libel laws and press reporting;
· The impact of conditional fee agreements on press freedom, and whether self-regulation needs to be toughened to make it more attractive to those seeking redress;
· The observance and enforcement of contempt of court laws with respect to press reporting of investigations and trials, particularly given the expansion of the Internet;
· What effect the European Convention on Human Rights has had on the courts’ views on the right to privacy as against press freedom;
· Whether financial penalties for libel or invasion of privacy, applied either by the courts or by a self-regulatory body, might be exemplary rather than compensatory; and
· Whether, in the light of recent court rulings, the balance between press freedom and personal privacy is the right one.
We are going to the States to investigate why people chose to take out libel actions in British courts against US publishers and whether there may something the US legal and publishing system can teach us.
On the flight from London to Washington with 7 other MPs – 4 Labour, 2 Tories and a Plaid Cymru - all the talk was of the Sunday newspaper stories on MPs’ expenses: Harry Cohen, Jacqui Lait and Bob Neill in the Mail. Jacqui Smith paying for porn on her allowances in the Express and the News of the The World.
There was comment also about Eric Pickles disastrous performance on Question time earlier in the week where he failed to persuade the audience that he needed a second home when his constituency was 34 miles from Westminster. According to one member of our committee he was led into a trap by on unhelpful comment from a Lib Dem. I proclaimed that whenever you – Tories and Labour – are in trouble you blame the Lib Dems. This got one of those I wish it wasn’t true laughs.
There is talk about visiting a Jazz bar or somewhere called the Marvin Gaye bar. One in our number wants to know if it’s a gay bar!
I only managed an hour or sos cat nap so spent much of the flight writing on my laptop.
Not the best flight – worse turbulence I’ve ever experienced. Pilot slowed and rose to 40,000 ft at one point to avoid worst of it. Added 15 minutes to the journey.
Took a while to get away from the airport and into town. A smoker in our group delayed us at the airport and it’s 45 mins to the Hotel.
Ate over the road and went to bed early. Don’t think anyone got to find the Marvin Gaye bar.
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