Articles

Posted by Free Word on 25/1/12

Yesterday, Tuesday 24 January, John Kampfner of Index on Censorship and Jonathan Heawood of English PEN appeared at the Leveson Inquiry into the culture, practice and ethics of the press.

Kampfner stressed that his, and Index's, fundamental concern is that 'misplaced increase in restrictions on the media will limit the public's right to know [...]  Simply ask yourself: did the media find out too much, or too little?'

On press regulation, Heawood described the situation as like being trapped between a rock and a hard place: 'You may ultimately have to choose the rock or the hard place, and if the rock is statutory [regulation], where you do have that capacity for political oversight, and the hard place is self [-regulation], where it is independent but there are flaws with that, I think one would prefer to go down the self-regulatory route, where it's essentially an opt-in, contractual model'. Kampfner added: 'We see no need in a robust environment for any statutory element to regulation, where there is ...strong editorial practice, where there is a good code and there is robust self-regulation'.

The Leveson Inquiry, set up following Britain's phone hacking scandal, is investigating the relationship between the press and police, politicians and the public, and will provide recommendations for 'more effective policy and regulation that supports the integrity and freedom of the press'.

Watch the video of Kampfner and Heawood's appearance, and download the PDF transcript.

Follow Index on Censorship's live twitter stream from the Leveson Inquiry.