Keep the press free

Once again, there are moves in Parliament to curtail the freedom of the press, kill off investigative journalism and put regional newspapers in financial peril. In the Lords today, peers will be encouraged to support a move to implement Section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act which has hung like the Sword of Damocles over the industry ever since the hacking scandal. The provision was never implemented and the Conservatives promised in their manifesto to repeal it. But without a majority, Theresa May will find it hard to fight off the anti-press forces in Parliament.

Section 40 is a pernicious measure that would make newspapers pay the costs of people who sue them, even if a newspaper wins the case, unless they agree to be overseen by an officially approved body called Impress. Most newspapers, including The Daily Telegraph, are regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso). The legislative vehicle for bringing Section 40 partly into force is the Data Protection Bill, which also contains new powers for the Information Commissioner that would shift the balance dangerously away from freedom of expression and towards privacy. This is hardly in line with the Government’s intention to protect free speech.

Since Ipso has developed into the effective independent regulator that Lord Justice Leveson said was needed, there is no need to implement Section 40, other than to placate a few obsessive campaigners whose remedy would stop the media from delving into areas the powerful would rather they did not. An unfettered press is an essential component of a free country. Parliamentarians, of all people, should understand that.