Newspaper Editors and Leveson, An Analysis of the ‘Delaunay Deal’

This week it was reported that the editors of the national newspapers had made great strides towards accepting the vast majority of Leveson’s recommendations. The Guardian reported that the broadsheet and tabloid editors ‘agreed at a breakfast summit to 40 of Leveson’s first 47 proposals – paving the way for the creation of a new regulator with powers to levy fines of up to £1m’.

Remember Leveson’s Purpose: to give ordinary victims fair redress – Martin Moore

At the heart of the Leveson report is an indictment of some of the past practices of parts of the press when it came to their treatment of ordinary people. Not celebrities or politicians but ordinary people who have, often for reasons entirely out of their control, suddenly found themselves in the media glare.

Why Leveson won’t opt for the Irish model of press regulation – and what the ‘Irish model’ actually means: Martin Moore

Saturday’s Times newspaper claimed it knew the answer to the million dollar question – what is Lord Justice Leveson going to recommend? The judge, the paper said, would reject pure self-regulation and go instead for a ‘system similar to the model operating in the Irish Republic’. Rather than clarifying exactly what this meant, the article then concentrated on why Lord Black and other members of the press might object to such a system.

Telegraph readers take issue with the Telegraph’s view of press self-regulation – Martin Moore

If British newspapers represent public opinion fairly then you would think the public – or at least Telegraph readers – strongly supported the press’ own plan for self-regulation and would die in a ditch to prevent anything else being put in place.

The Leveson Inquiry: The danger of power – Martin Moore

There is no shortage of quotes or aphorisms about the corrupting nature of too much power. From Thomas Bailey’s warning that “The possession of unlimited power will make a despot of almost any man” to Lord Acton’s ”absolute power corrupts absolutely”. Why does this happen? Empathy, as readers of Machiavelli’s The Prince will know, can be detrimental to the pursuit of power. “It is much safer,” Machiavelli wrote, “to be feared than to be loved.” Powerful people, in other words, can cease to see other people as human.

Hunt/Black plan fails the Prime Minister’s Dowler/McCann test – Martin Moore

In July, prompted by Section 21 orders from Lord Justice Leveson, many of the UK’s big news organisations offered qualified support for the plan put forward by Lord Black and Lord Hunt for a new system of press self-regulation based on contract law (though none have signed up to it yet).

Comment: The Leveson Inquiry is far from over – Martin Moore

This week has felt like another seminal one in the phone hacking saga. Eight people have been charged – including Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson, Rupert Murdoch has resigned from News International’s Board – another step in the process of Murdoch-ian withdrawal from UK newspapers, and the oral hearings of the Leveson Inquiry Part 1 concluded.