New bill to give public right to press correction
A new Private Member’s Bill has been launched in the House of Commons that would give the public the right to correct factual inaccuracies in the press.
The Right of Reply and Press Standards Bill would give editors three days to agree to publish a prominently placed correction, after which complainants could take their case to an independent adjudicator. Both parties could appeal the ruling to a Press Standards Board, and both bodies’ rulings would be enforceable through the courts.
The bill is the brainchild of the Labour MP for Wrekin, Peter Bradley, who claims to have significant cross-party and media industry support for the bill.
Launching the bill, Mr Bradley said that good journalists had nothing to fear from the bill and it would benefit the media in the long run by increasing trust.
Mr Bradley said: “My Bill would ensure that when a complaint is justified, a newspaper would be required to publish a correction speedily and prominently. It’s my expectation that if this citizen’s right existed, the worst offenders in the press would clean their acts up very quickly and we would see higher standards of journalism, less casual inaccuracy, more respect for individuals’ reputations and, ultimately fewer complaints.
“Raising press standards is important for another reason. We’re living in an age in which few trust politicians and even fewer believe what they read in the papers. That’s why we’re seeing both falling turn-outs at elections and tumbling newspaper sales.”
He added: “It’s crucial for politicians, press and public alike that we restore the sense of trust which is essential in a democratic society and I believe that my Bill could play a small but significant part in doing that.”
Mr Bradley said that under the current self-regulated press complaints system many ordinary people effectively had no right of address against newspapers even when their reputations had been severely damaged as the court system was expensive and the Press Complaints Commission was slow.
The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) said it was open to the idea of the bill.
General secretary Jeremy Dear said that the press should be open to the “constructive proposals” in the bill, and pointed out that the NUJ code suggested papers should already offer a right to reply.
Mr Dear said the current system was inadequate as “most papers fob people off and set up barriers to printing corrections. The Press Complaints Commission takes the side of the paper rather than the citizen.
“Many complainers end up with either an inadequate response, such as a letter, or with nothing, and are left with a grudge against journalists and the press that is no good for anyone.”
He added: “A simple measure requiring factual inaccuracies to be corrected would be a step in the right direction.”
The bill though stands little chance of becoming law unless the Government decides to take it up, which is unlikely considering the already packed legislative agenda.
The Campaign for Press & Broadcasting Freedom said that it hoped the bill would be taken up in the next parliament.
Joint chairs Julian Petley and Tim Gopsill said: “The bill would introduce a very moderate measure of redress through a simple, quick and accountable system. It would also support journalists by encouraging and promoting the best traditions of journalism, thereby improving press standards.
“With the possibility of a general election in the next few months, it’s important that the ideas set out in Peter’s bill are debated and taken up in the new Parliament. The right of reply was one of the Campaign for Press Freedom’s early demands when it was set up in 1979. With an ineffective Press Complaints Commission, the case today is even stronger that it was over 20 years ago.”
