The long-awaited report by Lord Justice Leveson into the culture, practices and ethics of the press was published yesterday, and almost immediately a division emerged between the main political parties over his core recommendation – a statutory ‘underpinning’ for a new system of press regulation that is entirely independent of newspaper editors and proprietors.
Lord Leveson, an Appeal Court judge, was thoroughly critical of press behaviour in recent years. He cited the cases of people caught up in tragic news stories through no fault of their own who were treated merely as grist to the mill by several newspapers. For example, two families that lost a child in terrible circumstances, the Dowlers and the McCanns.
