Minister’s doubts over making Press pay libel costs, win or lose
CULTURE Secretary John Whittingdale yesterday said he is ‘not persuaded’ by a draconian law forcing newspapers to pay both sides’ costs in libel cases – even when they win.
His intervention follows a report by free speech campaigners which warned the move would devastate investigative journalism and prevent the Press speaking ‘truth to power’.
Under laws hurried through the last Parliament, newspapers who choose not to sign up to a State-backed Press regulator could face exemplary damages in court.
The rules will also introduce a system of socalled ‘costs shifting’, which will make these papers liable to pick up the costs in libel cases even if they win.
No newspaper, national or local, has agreed to the State-backed system, which would end more than 300 years of Press freedom.
For the punitive rules on costs to come into effect, Mr Whittingdale would have to sign an order next month. Yesterday, he told the Society of Editors conference he was not yet convinced of the need to implement the law.
Mr Whittingdale said: ‘At the moment I am not persuaded that the time is right for the introduction of these costs provisions, given the changes underway in the industry, the introduction of the exemplary damages provisions and the pressures on the industry.’
He said there was ‘a question over whether this additional step will be positive and lead to the changes we want to see’.
The former chairman of the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee added: ‘My mind is not made up, we will need to examine the matter further.’ National newspapers, including the Mail, refused to sign up to a State-backed system of regulation. Most are now regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation.
It has the power to impose fines of up to £1million for serious and systemic wrongdoing and can require editors to publish upfront corrections, but is free of State involvement.
Mr Whittingdale said he welcomed IPSO’s steps to set up a libel and privacy disputes arbitration scheme.
Media lawyer Tony Jaffa said: ‘The greatest threat to freedom of expression in this country, particularly for the regional press, is the provision relating to costs.’
He said the threat was particularly severe in view of the £500-an-hour fees, plus 100 per cent success fee, charged by claimant lawyers, which publishers would have to pay.
Last week, a report published by the Free Speech Network warned that ‘illiberal’ laws rushed through in the wake of the Leveson Inquiry posed ‘the most substantial threat to British Press freedom in the modern era’ and must be urgently repealed.