The Leveson Inquiry: There's a bargain to be struck over media freedom and regulation
George Brock
Brock.pdf (181.33 KB)
The Leveson Inquiry: There's a bargain to be struck over media freedom and regulation

The Leveson Inquiry into the culture, practice, and ethics of the British press was triggered when the phone-hacking scandal’s full scale became clear in July 2011 and closed the News of the World. But the inquiry has gone much wider than that, hearing evidence about accuracy, fairness, privacy, regulation, and law. 

 

Much of the debate in and around the inquiry has focused narrowly on possible improvements to the much-criticized system of self-regulation for the press. This policy brief argues that a broader look at the relationship between the law and regulation would suggest that there is a bargain to be struck.

 

A balanced outcome from the inquiry could both strengthen the legal defences for good journalism done in the public interest and create incentives for regulation which does not rely on statutory backing. Both the law and regulation must make more use of an effective public interest test.
 
ALSO OF INTEREST
Policy Brief
Water Rights and Stewardship
To what extent are water rights subject to restrictions based on ideas of stewardship? In England and Wales, the right to water has traditionally been conceived as a property right, favouring existing landholders and neglecting responsibilities towards stewardship, or protecting the water environment from ecological harm.
 
But there is much debate about the extent to which property ought to be subject to inherent stewardship obligations or whether there is already support for this, theoretically or in practice.
Download
Policy Brief
Private Rights and Public Responsibilities: Recent developments in Scots water law
Water law has been the subject of considerable attention in the Scottish Parliament since its re-establishment in 1999, with five Water Acts passed in that time. 
 
This policy brief examines these recent reforms and considers whether there has been a shift from private rights to private responsibilities, or perhaps, from private rights to public rights, over water resources in Scotland.
 
The brief will also consider what lessons may be learned in England from the introduction in Scotland of limited competition in retail
Download
Policy Brief
The End of Press Freedom

The fourth and final policy brief from our series assessing the progress of the Leveson Inquiry and the future of media regulation sees the Director of the Media Policy Project at the London School of Economics Damian Tambini provocatively argue that we should abandon the concept of press freedom altogether.

 

Download
Policy Brief
From Regulatory Capture to Regulatory Space?

 

The root of the problem was an intellectual or moral failure to identify, follow up, and contain concentrations of risk
 

The capture of regulators by industry interests was once viewed as the dominant paradigm for failures of regulation. Recently, the financial crisis has re-awoken interest in ‘regulatory capture’ — a term used by the Governor of the Bank of England Sir Mervyn King, among others. 

Download