Newspaper chiefs today rejected the royal charter for press regulations agreed by party leaders and published rival proposals.
Crucially, the plans from newspaper bosses would stop MPs from being able to change the royal charter in future. It would also mean fines of up to £1 million could be imposed for systematic breaches of the code of conduct — such as phone hacking — rather than serious breaches as proposed by the politicians.
The newspaper chiefs pushing the new charter say it would meet the recommendations of last year’s Leveson report into press standards without introducing any element of state-sponsored regulation.
In a statement co-ordinated by the Newspaper Society, they said that the royal charter published by the Government on March 18 has been condemned by a range of international media freedom organisations and enjoys “no support within the press” in the UK.
Under the industry proposals, a new recognition panel would be created, with responsibility for accrediting a self-regulation body for the press.
