Prescott’s lies about the new Press watchdog
On BBC Radio yesterday, John Prescott, who was exposed by a newspaper for having an affair with his secretary, sought to exploit the hacking verdict to attack the new Independent Press Standards Organisation which is supported by the overwhelming majority of newspapers and magazines. Here, Home Affairs Editor JAMES SLACK examines his claims versus the reality.
CLAIM: ‘It (IPSO) is worse than the one we already have.’
REALITY: IPSO has far tougher rules than the previous regulator, the Press Complaints Commission. The watchdog will have the power to impose fines of up to £1million for systemic wrongdoing and can require editors to publish prominent corrections ‘whether editors like it or not’. Ipso will also include a standards and compliance arm, with investigative powers to call editors to account.
CLAIM: ‘The body (newspapers and magazines) have set up is controlled by the industry.’
REALITY: A majority of the members of IPSO at all levels are independent and there is no industry veto on appointments to the body. The selection panel – which also has an independent majority – was headed by Sir Hayden Phillips, previously permanent secretary at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The new chairman of IPSO, Court of Appeal Judge Sir Alan Moses, was said to have been so enraged by ‘sensational and lurid’ coverage of the Soham case that he threw a pile of newspapers across the courtroom during a pre-trial hearing.
CLAIM: ‘They (the Press) are refusing (to implement Leveson)… and totally ignoring the principal recommendations of Leveson, which Parliament endorsed.’
REALITY: It is the Hacked Off-backed Royal Charter which Lord Prescott supports that compromises Leveson. The judge explicitly rejected the idea of the Government or Parliament setting up a recognition panel for any new press regulator, saying it would ‘likely to be perceived by the industry, and possibly by the public, as Government interference in the independence of the press’. Page 1,578 of Leveson states: ‘By far the best solution to Press standards would be a body, established and organised by the industry, which would provide genuine regulation of its members.’
CLAIM: ‘Basically, Leveson recommended an independent Press body. They are saying they will not comply with the Royal Charter.’
REALITY: Leveson didn’t propose a ‘Royal Charter’, The idea was dreamed up by Number Ten and agreed with Hacked Off over pizza at 2am. Leveson wanted ‘voluntary, independent self-regulation’. The Charter – far from being independent – could only be amended by a two-thirds majority in both houses of Parliament. Journalists would live in fear that if they angered MPs, say by exposing another expenses scandal, they could get revenge by making the rules even more draconian.