UK politicians strike deal on press regulation

Britain's three main political parties struck a compromise deal on a new regulatory system for the country's newspapers in the early hours of Monday morning, a lawmaker said, hours before what was to be a divisive parliamentary vote on the issue.

The government came under pressure to put a new regulatory system in place after a judge-led inquiry and a series of arrests laid bare a culture of phone hacking and malpractice in some parts of Britain's scandal-hungry press.

The deal is expected to see a new press regulator established, the introduction of fines of up to 1 million pounds ($1.5 million), and an obligation on newspapers to print prominent apologies where appropriate.

Culture Secretary Maria Miller, a member of the ruling Conservative party, played down how much her party had been forced to compromise.

A deal spares Prime Minister David Cameron what was shaping up to be an embarrassing political defeat in parliament that would have deepened rifts in his coalition government and ends a long-running debate that has exposed close ties between politicians and the press.

The three parties got a deal after agreeing to enact legislation in the upper house of parliament to ensure the new system cannot be easily altered or watered down later.

The three parties had been divided over whether a new press regulator should be enshrined in law and over how its members would be chosen.

Compromise

The deal appears to be a complicated compromise.

"I think we have got an agreement which protects the freedom of the press, that is incredibly important in a democracy, but also protects the rights of people not to have their lives turned upside down," senior opposition leader Harriet Harman told broadcaster ITV.

Unlike the widely discredited Press Complaints Commission, which barely bothered to investigate allegations of phone hacking before the scandal broke, the new body being proposed by politicians would be independent of the media and would have the power to force newspapers to print prominent apologies.

Submitting to the regulatory regime would be optional, but media groups staying outside the system could risk substantial fines if they get stories wrong.

And rather than be established through a new press law, which advocates of Britain's media have described as unacceptable, the regulatory body would be created through a Royal Charter, a kind of executive order whose history stretches back to medieval times. Adding to the complexity, a law would be passed to prevent media-friendly ministers from tweaking the system after the fact.

Reuters-AP

(China Daily 03/19/2013 page12)