Press body ‘ broke political lobbying rules’
A STATE-BACKED body tasked with approving new Press regulators has been accused of breaking rules by lobbying for changes to the Data Protection Bill in a fresh assault on Press freedom.
The News Media Association said the Press Recognition Panel, set up under a royal charter after the Leveson Inquiry, has urged peers to amend the Bill.
The PRP proposed changes to an exemption that allows journalists to carry out investigations, such as the recent exposé of the Paradise Papers tax avoidance scandal, without having to obtain the consent of people involved before using their data.
In a letter to the Cabinet Office the NMA, which represents local and national newspapers, said the PRP had urged peers to adopt a journalists’ code of conduct drawn up by controversial Press regulator Impress. Impress, which is financially backed by former Formula One boss Max Mosley, covers only a handful of hyper-local publications and blogs. It was embroiled in controversy when it found its chief executive and two board members had broken its own rules by posting abusive tweets about some newspapers, including the Daily Mail.
In its letter to peers, the PRP also appeared to warn against including the Editors’ Code of the Independent Press Standards Organisation in the Bill, even though it is the code followed by the vast majority of the Press, the NMA said.
If Ipso’s Editors’ Code is removed from the Bill it would severely restrict the ability of those who abide by it to store and access information, and investigate wrongdoing. The Bill empowers individuals to have more control over their personal information. There would be heavy fines for groups that do not safeguard sensitive data.
In its letter, also sent to culture minister Matt Hancock, the NMA says the PRP intervention is its ‘second foray into parliamentary lobbying in recent months’.
The NMA said as the PRP was entirely funded by public money at the time it made its lobbying interventions, it is effectively a public body and so should be governed by the relevant principles.
It notes that Cabinet Office guidelines state that public bodies should put ‘robust and effective’ systems in place to ensure they do not, and are not perceived to, engage in political lobbying.
The NMA says the PRP’s latest intervention ‘strays significantly from its core functions’, adding: ‘ As an attempt to change legislation the October 2017 briefing is clearly political lobbying.’
Mr Mosley has been a vocal supporter of state-backed restrictions on the Press since being exposed by the News of the World for taking part in an orgy with prostitutes.
The vast majority of national and local newspapers, including the Daily Mail, have signed up to Ipso, which is entirely independent of the state.
The Cabinet Office said it will consider the NMA’s letter. A spokesman for the PRP said: ‘The PRP is entirely independent. Our briefing to peers explains that omitting the post-Leveson system of regulation from the Bill would undermine Parliament’s original intentions, and mean people continue to be denied access to justice when they are wronged by the Press.’