Abstract
AbstractHow to regulate the press is arguably the foremost issue in media reform debates. Therefore, this chapter examines the history of press regulation in the UK as a way of highlighting recurrent trends in efforts at reforming press regulation and the outcomes of such attempts. To this end, this chapter discusses the history of press regulation in Britain, the British press system (introducing the three major newspaper classifications—broadsheets, mid-markets and tabloids) and relevant aspects of the Leveson Inquiry. The setting up of an inquiry to investigate press standards did not begin with the Leveson Inquiry. For approximately 70 years (at the time of writing), a number of commissions have been set up with a mandate to make the press accountable. They include the Royal Commissions on the press (RCP) 1949, 1962 and 1977 along with two Calcutt Committees. This chapter discusses the different efforts at ensuring effective press regulation in UK.
Highlights
The position of the 1949 Royal Commission of the press was condemned by the 1962 Press Commission
Having had three major commissions and a Press Complaints Commission (PCC) that could not ensure an accountable press, the Leveson Inquiry, which followed the News of the World phone hacking scandal, was embraced as a perceived opportunity to correct about 70 years of an ineffective press regulatory system in Britain
Arguments relating to more stringent regulation often include discussions about whether to introduce some level of statutory regulation
Summary
How to regulate the press is arguably the foremost issue in media reform debates. this chapter examines the history of press regulation in the UK as a way of highlighting recurrent trends in efforts at reforming press regulation and the outcomes of such attempts. The 1949 Royal Commission on the press was set up by the British government to investigate the increasing concentration of ownership of newspaper and periodicals, and to promote free expression of opinion through the press (Frost 2007; Curran and Seaton 2010). All three commissions on the British press (1949, 1962 and 1977) examined the issue of concentration of media ownership and its potential to cripple press accountability, but the closest they got to tackling the problem was to advocate anti-monopoly measures which did not work
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