LONDON — Britain’s often outrageously behaved Press should be regulated by a watchdog backed by law, an inquiry triggered by a phone-hacking scandal said yesterday, pitching Prime Minister David Cameron into a political dilemma that may split his government.
Report by Reuters
Cameron also risks the wrath of the British Press ahead of the 2015 election if he imposes legally backed regulation, but faces a split in his coalition government if he tries to water down the main recommendations of the report.
Lord judge Justice Brian Leveson said he had no intention of ending three centuries of Press freedom, but condemned sometimes “outrageous” behaviour by the Press that had “wreaked havoc with the lives of innocent people”.
“The ball moves back into the politicians’ court: they must now decide who guards the guardians,” Leveson told a news conference in Westminster, opposite the House of Commons.
Leveson’s inquiry was ordered by Cameron after public outrage at revelations that reporters at one of Rupert Murdoch’s tabloids hacked the phone messages of a 13-year-old murder victim, Milly Dowler.
Leveson said there should be a new independent self-regulatory body, which would be recognised in law, something the Press and many within Cameron’s own party, including senior ministers, have adamantly opposed as an erosion of Press freedom.
Leveson, whose inquiry laid bare phone-hacking, claims of police bribes and the cozy relationship between top editors and the political elite, said the relationship between politicians and the Press was too close.
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He warned that the close ties formed between the government and Murdoch’s News Corp over the aborted takeover of BSkyB was concerning and had the potential to jeopardise the $12 billion bid.
But he offered little in the way of direct criticism of individuals, ammunition for those who hoped it would condemn Cameron for his links to Murdoch’s media empire.
