This article from Big Brother Watch shows how Labour and the Lib Dems watered down a public interest clause in the new press laws. Something that should give anyone who is in favour of free speech and accurate reporting severe concerns, is the right of ‘third party’ representives of allegedly offended parties where there is a complaint. The Left lowered the threshold for such complainants to become involved. This has implications for the right to report on religious groups, political groups, and businesses (where a trade association could be the ‘third party’). It is going to be a bigger gag on the press than the superinjunction.
This is not, as a pro-Leveson commentator on this blog said on the other Leveson post, a minor press byelaw change, this new scheme and the complaince apparatus it will generate is a major attack on press freedom.
This blog will NOT register with any Leveson ‘Recognition Agency’ or any similar press licensing or censorship entity, this blog which although it mostly covers UK issues, is published outside the United Kingdom. It is the job of editors, not politicians to edit publications.
This is a regressive policy and to look to who will benefit from it, look to its funders and cheerleaders, a motley collection of sleazy celebs, authoritiarian leftwingers and the super rich. It certainly will not benefit such things as holding the government to account or speaking out against injustice or voicing an opinion.
Big Brother Watch has more details on the worrying questions that are being asked about this dangerous dog’s breakfast of a policy.
Guido Fawkes has some interesting information on the sometimes sleazy and titled but definitely very rich contributors to Hacked Off.
http://order-order.com/2013/03/18/hacked-off-donors-6-billionaire-labour-lord-sainsbury/
Good decision. Hope more follow suit
So do I. It saddens me and depresses me that because of speech codes and controls that were imposed by the last Labour govt I have to host this blog overseas. Leveson will surely make more bloggers move elsewhere. This may also, as I recently told a lefty proponent of Leveson, blow back in the faces of those who want Leveson press controls when one of their preferred causes does NOT get covered because of censorship.
Ill be following your lead on this 1. There’s enough enemies of free speech as there is. Even Yahoo have started appeasing the Muslims now by deleting my question about Muslim grooming gangs. They said it is inciting hate and violence.They listened to some commie who said i need reporting to the police LOL. They had better arrest the childrens minister and a couple of MPs also because my question was basically same as they had said in the commons last week
Nice one! The fact that the Left are having to behave like this shows that they are worried. The more poeple say ‘Bugger Leveson’ the better. It is very heartening to see MSM outlets such as The Spectator saying No as well.