The British press is having one of its periodic spasms of infighting and navel-gazing – the Telegraph claims the BBC has spent too long on the Daily Mail’s row with Ed Miliband; meanwhile, the Sun’s inaccurate front page about crimes committed by “mental patients” is roundly denounced; two days later, three right-wing papers devote their front pages to the MI5 claim that the Guardian has “helped terrorists” by publishing leaked files from the US National Security Agency.
The backdrop to this outbreak of inky trench warfare is the continuing fight over press reform. Now, the Privy Council has rejected the industry’s plan to be allowed another chance at self-regulation and David Cameron is left hoping that his hastily concocted fudge – a royal charter – will be passed, allowing some measure of statutory underpinning.
The underlying principles of this fight have too often been forgotten in a round of score-settling and protection of vested interests. In March, we said we felt our interests as a political and cultural magazine and website were represented neither by a regulator created by politicians, nor one stuffed with placemen from the right-wing press. (The right-wing press was keen to report our stance on the former, but not the latter, proposition.) Six months later, our position has not changed.
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