British Media Secretary Maria Miller says the government has decided to establish a state-backed watchdog to regulate the scandal-hit media in the country.
Amid newspapers’ efforts to continue with the existing system of self-regulation, Miller told British MPs that a government-backed regulator will be the best way to tackle such abuses as the phone-hacking scandal.
œWe had a once-in-a-generation opportunity to get this right,” she told the House of Commons.
œWe all want it to be the best we can do to give individuals access to redress whilst safeguarding this country’s free press, which forms such a vital part of our democracy”.
The phone-hacking scandal revealed that a range of British journalists were involved in a series of illegal practices including eavesdropping on phone messages and hacking computers to obtain exclusive information on potentially-explosive news stories.
An inquiry into the practice proposed last year that an independent media regulator be set up with the power to punish journalists and media companies, found involved in illegal activities.
The proposal was criticized by the press as restrictive and giving too much power to politicians.
The journalists proposed their own system of press self-regulation but Miller said it has been turned down by a sub-committee of the Queen™s councilors, the Privy Council, that approves new royal charters for the press.
AMR/HE
Copyright: Press TV