Attending cross-party talks on Leveson, Hacked Off representatives relayed to ministers the outrage of many victims of press abuse at Conservative plans for a Royal Charter that, Hacked Off says, would concede many demands from editors and proprietors.
Speaking after the meeting, Hacked Off director, Professor Brian Cathcart (pictured) said: “We have made clear to Maria Miller and Oliver Letwin, as well as to Labour and the Liberal Democrats, that the Conservative ministers’ draft of a Royal Charter is a sell-out to newspapers that were condemned in the Leveson Report for wreaking havoc in the lives of ordinary people.
“If this plan were put into action it would take us straight back to the conditions that made the Leveson Inquiry necessary in the first place, with editors able to lie, bully and intrude with impunity. This would be an outright betrayal of all those victims who gave evidence to the Inquiry.”
The cross-party talks, which have been underway behind closed doors since the report was published three months ago, include Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman and Liberal Democrat minister Lord Wallace as well as the Conservative ministers. Hacked Off agreed to attend today with the proviso that we could not negotiate with anyone on the basis of the Conservative draft, and that our agreeing to meet could not be used by Conservative ministers to seek to legitimise their negotiating the Leveson recommendations with the industry, says Hacked Off.
“When we asked Mr Letwin to explain why his draft contained wholesale concessions to the newspaper bosses, he said these were necessary to persuade the press to participate in a regulatory system,” said Prof Cathcart.
“We told him that this was akin to giving a convicted man a veto on his sentence. The press had the chance to put its views to the inquiry and Leveson’s recommendations took those into account. It can’t be right that ministers are now prepared to let editors win in private an argument they lost in public.”
Hacked Off also reminded all those at the talks that by holding meetings behind closed doors they were breaching Lord Justice Leveson’s recommendation that the political process of implementation of his report should be open and transparent.
According to Hacked Off, the cross-party talks have occurred almost weekly since early December and no agendas or minutes have ever been published. Nor have participants published details of their contacts with newspaper bosses and their representatives.
About Hacked Off
Hacked Off says: “Hacked Off is a not-for-profit company, founded by Brian Cathcart, Professor of Journalism at Kingston University and Martin Moore, Director of the Media Standards Trust. Among its high profile supporters are the actor, Hugh Grant, the comedian Steve Coogan and the singer Charlotte Church, though the vast majority of Hacked Off supporters are not well known: ordinary men and women who became victims of press harassment and intrusion through no fault of their own, alongside concerned members of the general public, more than 170,000 of whom have signed the online petition calling for the recommendations of the Leveson Inquiry in relation to press regulation to be implemented in full.
The Board of Directors comprises Hugh Tomlinson QC of Matrix Chambers (chair); Prof. Steve Barnett of the University of Westminster; Prof. Natalie Fenton of Goldsmiths, University of London; Hugh Grant; Charlotte Harris, Partner, Mishcon de Reya; and Will Moy, Director, Full Fact. Prof. Cathcart is executive director and Dr Evan Harris is associate director.”
