A Royal Charter on press regulation could take politicians and government “to the heart of the newsroom,” Lord Black of Brentwood told the Scottish Newspaper Society.
Lord Black, who is executive director of the Telegraph Media Group, told the society’s conference in Glasgow last night: “There is a clear and present danger to press freedom in this country.”
A Royal Charter on press regulation was granted in October after the newspaper industry lost a court challenge.
He described the charter as a “menace”, and a “chilling prospect”, saying politicians had laid out how they expected the regulation of the press to be organised “and they now have the tools to make that compulsory if they choose to do so.”
He said that move potentially took politicians and government “to the heart of the newsroom and what you can and cannot publish.”
Lord Black has been an architect of the new Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), which is set to replace the Press Complaints Commission.
He told the conference he intends to step back from the system and concentrate on fighting the threats to press freedom he believes are coming both from within government and from the European Union.
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It is indeed a chilling prospect. It would, in truth, make Britain a Third World country, with the same press constraints as places like Zimbabwe and Cuba.
That this could be happening in the UK is beyond belief because less sophisticated societies around the world have always looked to us for a lead. Freedom fighters elsewhere have traditionally seen us a paragon of free speech. Not anymore!
Remember, the entire Leveson fiasco was triggered by thieving politicians who wanted to be free from scrutiny. The Maria Miller and Cyril Smith affairs, along with many more, demonstrated how keen the establishment are to protect their own – even to the considerable cost of the public at large.
Thomas Jefferson said: ‘Freedom cannot be limited without being lost.’
You will have noted that Miller was active in the press regulation lobby. Now we all know why.
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