Statute and Press Regulation

There has been some confusion about the issue of statute and press regulation. To me it is important not to have in statute the details of any press regulation.

However, if you look at Section 12 of the 1998 Human Rights Act you will find:

(4)The court must have particular regard to the importance of the Convention right to freedom of expression and, where the proceedings relate to material which the respondent claims, or which appears to the court, to be journalistic, literary or artistic material (or to conduct connected with such material), to—
(a)the extent to which—
(i)the material has, or is about to, become available to the public; or
(ii)it is, or would be, in the public interest for the material to be published;
(b)any relevant privacy code.

This, which was introduced at the request of the newspapers, makes clear reference to press regulation in (b)any relevant privacy code..

None of the statute that has been produced as part of the process of establishing a royal charter goes any further than S12(4)(b) as above.

The scheme is optional. It would most likely include this blog as there are articles by a number of authors. However, given that most libel actions are about costs bullying I would be quite happy to sign up to such a scheme if the charges were relatively low.