Dec 7th, 2012
Leveson
By [email protected]
This week David Cameron met with newspaper editors to try and find a way to avoid bringing in all of the suggestions the Leveson Report made to clean up the press.
The changes suggested in the Leveson Report could be the biggest shake up in our media for decades. It would mean the press was no longer allowed to police itself and would face a proper, independent inquiry when they get things wrong.
David Cameron is already starting to look isolated because he’s refusing to make a law to protect the independence of a new press watchdog. A huge petition calling for all the suggestions to be brought in will show him that the public want a new law. We can convince him to back down and make real changes.
David Cameron said that he’d judge whether the Leveson Inquiry had worked by whether or not it helped people who’d been victims of the media, like Milly Dowler’s parents. But now it’s come to the crunch, it looks like he’s more worried about what powerful media barons like Rupert Murdoch think about him. So he’s refusing to put proper rules in place.
The judge in the charge of the inquiry, Lord Justice Leveson believes a new law is needed. Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband agree.
Independent experts, phone hacking victims and many MPs believe without the new law, the new watchdog will not be powerful enough to clean up the press. Some high profile MPs are already beginning to switch sides and agree that a new law is needed to raise media standards.
38 Degrees members have played a key role in challenging media barons’ grip on Britain’s media. When the phone hacking scandal broke, we all worked fast to make sure the government didn’t give the BSkyB deal the go-ahead – and we won!
We’ve teamed up with Hacked Off to pressure the government to bring in all of the suggestions Leveson makes, to clean up our media. If enough of us sign the petition it will show David Cameron that a new law is critical and a watered down version just isn’t good enough.
