Leveson Press Law. Don't worry, it'll never happen.

    The debate over Lord Justice Leveson's call for statutory regulation of the press has unfortunately turned into a political bun-fight. Labour are so eager to court popularity by hammering the gutter press that they've embraced the Leveson Laws with hardly a moment's pause. Meanwhile, from the opposing camp comes the din of grinding axes as special interests led by the Murdoch press line up behind David Cameron against Leveson's “statutory underpinning”. Many believe the PM is only opposing regulation because he wants to keep the press barons on side for the next election.

But while politicians are always guilty of courting the press – even our own First Minister , Alex Salmond, couldn't resist offering to bat for Rupert as Leveson pointed out acidly – we should give the Prime Minister some credit for having genuine reservations about the rush to reintroduce regulation after three hundred years. And yes, I know regulation doesn't mean “political control” - but you have to look at how this new “independent” regulator would work.

Let's imagine that the Leveson proposals are adopted into law. What happens then? Well, the new Press Standards Commission is appointed by a panel overseen by the regulator, Ofcom. Since Ofcom is appointed by government, a line of influence is already open. The PSC drafts a code of conduct requiring journalists to behave properly, not hack phones, not harass famous novelists, not tell lies about people who've lost children, not blag medical records of politicians' children from the NHS -  In other words: obey the law. But since it is the courts that enforce the law, what else would the commission do? How would the Commission enforce good behaviour? Well, it would license the press – decide who is a legitimate accredited journalistic operation.

Lord Leveson doesn't use the word, “license” but he does propose a “kite-mark” for reputable organs. In exchange for being licensed, the newspaper would have certain legal protections in defamation and other cases. Lord Leveson says that those who don't play along would have to pay full court costs in defamation actions even if they WIN the case. So, if Lord X sues for defamation, and the Sunday Herald win on the grounds that what they have said about him is true, it might still have to pay the costs of the litigation, which could run into hundreds of thousands of pounds.

  Licensing raises the whole issue of compliance. Editors would have to show, even before they embark on a story, that they have fully discussed the implications, not just all the possible legal consequences, but whether they are within the Commission's code. If they are not, and the story leads to court action, they could effectively lose the protection even if story is true. So we can already begin to see some of the difficulties this might cause in a fast-moving news environment. 

Imagine a journalists gets wind of a story like the scandal of MPs expenses, by speaking to an official in the Westminster Fees Office willing to spill the beans, the editors would have to say: hold it right there. Is this “compliant?” - ie in accordance with the Commissioner's rules. Have any rules been broken by having even a conversation with a public official that is not recorded? Is there likely to be any breach of the Data Protection Acts and the Official Secrets act in proposing to handle stolen information. Lord Leveson wants the Data Protection Acts strengthened so that journalists can only hold information on bank accounts medical records etc.. for a specific story. Unfortunately, this isn't how journalism works.

Decisions on breaches of the Leveson Laws would be taken ultimately by appointed commissioners. These will be “independent” figures from what is called “the great and the good” - in other words, retired judges, ex-politicians, former editors, academics and probably the odd lay member like Hugh Grant. And they will all be vetted by Ofcom and the government before they sit down. This body will enforce a code, not in the heat of the moment, but in the abstract in the theoretical world occupied by judges and civil servants. Would they allow money to change hands in order to bring parliament into disrepute by breaching the confidentiality of MPs and Parliament? I somehow doubt it.

We have seen what happens in the BBC, which is under regulation by an “independent” Trust, led by Lord Patten, who is appointed by the government of the day, and is also regulated by Ofcom. Has this led to good journalism in the BBC? Some would say it has. But it has also led to a BBC run by play-safe bureaucrats who spend their time covering their bottoms, while journalistic standards go to out the window as the Newsnight/Lord McAlpine/Savile scandals demonstrated. Regulation is no guarantee of standards. "Referral up", the watchword of every BBC executive, leads to stifling bureaucracy. 

Of course, the standards commision would also enforce the right of reply and levy fines of up to a million for transgressing paper - but for what? Presumably for causing “havoc” as Lord Leveson put it, though this is always going to be a difficult thing to define. It's pretty clear that the McCann's had pretty rough treatment at the hands of the press, and no reasonable person could justify the behaviour of the papers who ran unfair and untrue stories about them. But does the body need to be regulated ultimately by government to ensure balance and right of reply?

However, it may be that this is what the public want. Journalists presume that people want to learn about nasty things going on in government and in large corporations, but that is an assumption. The BBC has always been held in very high regard by the public, even though it is timid of government and would never have broken a story like the MPs expenses. People rather like to believe that their elected members are indeed honourable and decent, and they are at least elected. Politicians can argue that, if the press has clearly shown that it cannot regulate itself, then the only other body that can do it is parliament. The government is at least elected.

However, there is a further problem with Leveson,  which I believe will render his system of regulation impossible: the internet. Leveson has delivered a report on the press as it was twenty years ago. The migration of news and comment to the internet is in full swing and and yet Leveson inexplicably exempts the internet from his standards system. His standards watchdog will only regulate the printed press on the grounds that this is “authoritative” unlike those online publications like the Huffington Post, Newsnet Scotland, Bright Green Scotland, Caledonian Mercury, Liberal Conspiracy, Left Foot Forward, and literally thousands of bloggers and tweeters.

This will lead to the absurd situation in which stories are circulating widely on the internet that the regulated press cannot report. A better way to undermine the authority, readership and finances of the press could scarcely be imagined. Many journalists will simply set up shop on line, like the blogger, Guido Fawkes, and carry on the ways of the 'old' unregulated and anarchic media. This very weekend Twitter has been alive with more names of alleged celebrity paedophiles, who may or may not be guilty. This makes a nonsense of Leveson and his 2,000 page report. It is simply not possible to make a meaningful distinction between libels and lies printed on paper and libels and lies published on-line. They are both means of communication in the public domain and you can't regulate one without the other.

In agreeing to draft a bill implementing Levison, David Cameron is presumably hoping that some of this will come out. He hopes to show sceptics that he is not in the pocket of Murdoch, but is genuinely concerned that we should understand what regulation actually means. And to remind people that once a bill is on the statute books it can and almost certainly will be amended – like the Data Protection Act. A press that is overseen by retired judges is not going to be able to talk truth to power. Having press licensed by the state will hasten the migration to the internet, which has none of the traditions and skills of the conventional media.

And one final point. Labour are very keen on regulation, but they seem a little cool on a “light touch” Scottish standards body being set up while the SNP is in government. The Scottish opposition parties are insisting that the First Minister stand aside from the process of setting up this “independent” watchdog. Perhaps they should ask themselves: why?