Committee recommends reform of libel laws and more powers for a toothless PCC

Whilst the headlines from the Commons committee will be about News International,let's nor forget that the main body of this report concerns privacy.

In particular the issue of the Press Complaint's council (PCC) which it describes as "toothless".

It recommends that it should be able to levy fines on publications or even suspend them for a day.

The Libel law should also be looked at with its key recommendation that ­lawyers should no longer be able to claim the 100% "success fees" for ­winning cases against the media, but should be limited to an extra 10%.In addition it recommends limiting the scope of the so called "libel tourists".

The committee added that if a defendant in a libel case is in the right, it "should not be forced into a settlement which entails him sacrificing justice on the grounds of cost."

Its chairman John Whittingdale said:

"A healthy democracy requires a free press. It is essential that newspapers should be able to report and comment on events, public figures and institutions, to be critical of them and to be a platform for dissenting views.
"At the same time, the press must be seen to uphold certain standards, to be mindful of the rights of those who are written about and, as far as possible, be accurate in what they report.

PCC under fire over NOTW phone tapping

The PCC's ruling over the News of the World phone tapping scandal has according to the Guardian this morning been attacked by MP's

Its report was described as a "whitewash" and there was a promise that another inquiry, from the Commons culture, media and sport select committee, would be more rigorous.
In a report published, the PCC also said it was not "materially misled" by executives at Rupert Murdoch's tabloid and that it did not believe senior managers at the paper knew reporters had illegally intercepted phone message left on mobile phones.

The new ruling centred around the Guardian's revelation that the paper had paid out £1m in confidential damages and legal fees to Gordon Taylor, chief executive of the Professional Footballers Association, and two others, over hacking claims.

However

While acknowledging the Guardian had "produced one new significant fact" in its revelations of the Gordon Taylor settlement, and had performed a "perfectly legitimate function" in further scrutinising activity at the Sunday paper, it added that in presenting its story, the Guardian had obligations requiring it to "take care not to publish distorted or misleading information".

Iain Dale complaint about the Daily Mail is not upheld by the PCC

The news that Iain Dale's complaint against the Daily Mail under clause 12 of the PCC guidelines was not upheld came as a surprise to some

In summary

The piece reported that the complainant was on the shortlist of people applying to be the Conservative candidate for the parliamentary constituency of Bracknell. It described him as ‘overtly gay', and referred to an interview he had given to Pink News in which he encouraged its readers to attend the open primary, saying it was ‘charming how homosexuals rally like-minded chaps to their cause'.
The complainant said that the article was pejorative and snide, and that his sexual orientation was irrelevant to his decision to stand as a parliamentary candidate. The implication of the word ‘overtly' was that he flaunted his sexuality, which was not the case. Read in conjunction with the comment about homosexuals sticking together, the article was homophobic.

According to the PCC

the fact that he had taken offence did not in itself mean that Clause 12 of the Code had been breached. The particular terms used, and the context of the item itself, were important here

According to Roy Greenslade,the

adjudication that illustrates the fine line that must be drawn between a newspaper's freedom to be offensive and whether that offensiveness constitutes discrimination.

He concludes that

We have to allow freedom of expression. We have to avoid censorship. And we did not set up the PCC, nor construct a code of practice, in order to deal with subjective matters of taste and discretion.

Agree?