Greg Dyke amongst broadcasters urging press to stop opposing press regulation
Former BBC general director Greg Dyke is amongst broadcasters who are urging editors and press owners to look into press regulation, suggesting it is "far from being something to be feared”.
In an open letter in the Times, the programme makers suggested that in their experience, regulation was "far from being something to be feared, often acts as a buttress to and a shield for journalism that takes on vested interests and asks awkward questions".
The letter adds: "We can say what we want and make the programmes we want within a regulatory framework that is enshrined in law. The suggestion that such regulation is inevitably anathema to free speech, or automatically places us under the thumb of politicians, is wrong and insulting to us as fellow journalists."
Others to have signed the letter include Kevin Marsh, former editor of BBC Radio 4's Today programme, and John Willis, the chief executive of Question Time producer Mentorn.