The Culture Media and Sport Committee, of which Adrian is a member, today published their report on Press Standards, Privacy and Libel.
Adrian spoke at the launch of the report defending the media’s right to free speech. He spoke of the necessity to have a robust press with good investigative powers.
The Committee’s enquiries follows several high profile media cases such as that brought by Max Mosley against the News of the World, the reporting of Madeleine McCann’s disappearance and the phone hacking conducted by News of the World reporters.
Following concerns that current regulation of the media doesn’t work and that the law needs to be reformed, the report suggests:
- that the Press Complaints Committee (PCC) should amend its Code to include a requirement that journalists notify the subject of their articles prior to publication, subject to a “public interest” test.
- that the PCC take a far more active role in ensuring that standards are upheld
- that it should have the power to impose financial penalties on newspapers that breach the PCC Code.
Adrian said:
Newspapers need to be able to investigate and scrutinise people in positions of power. When they take this too far, by phone hacking or providing inaccurate material, it makes everyone lose faith in the media.
The press must have the freedom to report without fear of going to court, but we don’t want to see ordinary individuals being treated with contempt by newspapers. Journalists must be made to uphold certain standards, to be mindful of the rights of those who are written about and be accurate in what they report.
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