Newspaper editors agree Leveson concessions
Britain’s national newspaper editors have reached agreement on a suite of concessions to allow formation of a beefed up press regulator following urgent negotiations.
It will see creation of an organisation compliant with the recommendations of the Leveson report in that it will be composed of a majority of independent members and no serving editors. It will also have the capability to launch investigations and set fines of up to £1m.
The new watchdog will also provide a low-cost arbitration service and host a whistleblowing hotline for journalists to report any instances of being asked to break the industry code.
Publishers will also have less control than originally proposed over subsequent appointments to the regulator and its funding model.
In a joint statement the editors proclaimed that they had “unanimously agreed to start putting in place the broad proposals — save the statutory underpinning — for the independent self-regulatory system laid out by Lord Justice Leveson.”
Several issues relating to important points of detail still remain unresolved however.