Editors have welcomed the scrapping of legislation designed to force publishers to sign up to a ‘recognised’ system of press regulation.

Both the Society of Editors and the News Media Association have shared their delight at provisions to repeal Section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013 in the publication of the draft Media Bill.

Both organisations have long campaigned for the repeal of Section 40 which, if enacted, would force newspapers not signed up to a Royal Charter-approved regulator to pay both sides’ legal costs in defamation and privacy cases regardless of whether they win or lose.

When the Act was first introduced, most publishers opted to sign-up to the industry-run Independent Press Standards Organisation rather than the Royal Charter-approved Impress, regarding the latter as akin to state regulation of the media.

SoE executive director Dawn Alford said the move was “long overdue”.

Said Dawn: “For the best part of a decade, the threat of Section 40 has been wielded over publishers in a bid to force them to join a government-backed press regulator.

“Not only does Section 40 fundamentally go against the principle that justice must be fair, but it would also have a devastating impact on investigative journalism as well as impose crippling costs on publishers simply for telling the truth.”

NMA chief executive Owen Meredith, pictured, added: “We welcome the provisions in the Draft Media Bill to repeal Section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act. The repeal of this pernicious piece of legislation will be a welcome step forward for press freedom in this country.”