Europe
British parties reach deal on press regulation
Last Updated:2013-03-19 10:19 | Xinhua
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Britain's three major political parties reached a deal on a new system of press regulation on Monday.

Under the new system, an independent regulator will be set up by royal charter, although opinions vary over whether it creates a new law. Other details are expected to be revealed in the House of Commons later.

Prime Minister David Cameron, who will apply for an emergency debate in the House of Commons on the reforms, has made it clear that he was very uncomfortable with the idea of setting anything down in law because it could be seen as politicians meddling with the press.

However, it is understood a compromise has been reached to include three lines of statute - a clause in the legislation to ensure that any Royal Charter cannot be amended in the future without two-thirds majorities in both Houses of Parliament.

Labor and the Lib Dems want statutory regulation as recommended by the Leveson inquiry, which Cameron commissioned in 2011 to look into press ethics following the voicemail hacking scandal at Rupert Murdoch's now closed News of the World tabloid.

The press reform is proposed in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal.

Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative party, his Liberal Democrat coalition partners and Labor party have been locked in talks for months on a new system of self-regulation for the press.

But Cameron called a halt to the talks last week, saying the differences between his Tories on the one side and the Lib Dems and Labor on the other were irreconcilable.

Culture Secretary Maria Miller, a member of Cameron's Conservative party, said she believed a deal would now go ahead but said the details still needed to be ironed out.

She insisted there was "no statutory underpinning" for the system, claiming victory for the prime minister's position.

"What's really important is the royal charter now has overwhelming support from all the three main parties and we have stopped this extreme form of press law" proposed by Labor, she told BBC radio.

 

 

 

Murdoch resigns as News International director

Rupert Murdoch has resigned as a director of companies that own the British newspaper The Sun, The Times and The Sunday Times, local media reported on Saturday. Murdoch stepped down from the boards of the News International Group, Times Newspaper Holdings and News Corp Investments in Britain last week, the Telegraph reported quoting companies House filings.

 


James Murdoch resigns as chairman of News International

A statement on the website of News Corporation (NC), the parent company of NI, announced that the 39-year-old son of international media mogul Rupert Murdoch was standing down from the post of chairman of embattled NI, and becoming the deputy chief operating officer of NC.

 

London police chief quits

 

 

Britain's senior police chief Paul Stephenson, London's police commissioner leaves New Scotland Yard after resigning in London July 17, 2011. Stephenson resigned on Sunday over allegations about the police's handling of phone hacking investigations. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

 

Britain's top police chief resigned and the former head of Rupert Murdoch's UK newspaper business was arrested on Sunday over a phone-hacking scandal that is lapping at Prime Minister David Cameron's door.

 

Murdoch apologizes

 

 

 

News Corp Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch speaks outside the hotel where he met the familly of murdered teenager Milly Dowler in central London July 15, 2011.  [Photo/Agencies]

 

Rupert Murdoch apologized to victims of criminal phone hacking by one of his tabloids and accepted the resignations of News Corp's top two newspaper executives, Rebekah Brooks and Les Hinton.

 

Rebekah Brooks resigns

 

 

Chief Executive of News International Rebekah Brooks listens to speeches during the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, northern England in this October 6, 2009 file photograph. [Photo/Agencies]

 

Rebekah Brooks, the loyal lieutenant of Rupert Murdoch, resigned Friday as chief executive of his embattled British newspapers, becoming the biggest casualty so far in the phone hacking scandal at a now-defunct Sunday tabloid.

 

Cameron names judge for hacking inquiry

 

 

 

A protester wearing a caricature giant head depicting News Corporation CEO Rupert Murdoch sits next to puppets of Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron outside Murdoch's apartment in central London July 13, 2011. [Photo/Agencies]

Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron told parliament on Wednesday an inquiry into phone hacking allegations at Rupert Murdoch's News Corp would call witnesses under oath and the initial part of the probe would report within one year.

 

Murdoch shuts down News of the World

 

 

 

A security guard stands at the entrance to News International offices in Wapping, London, July 7, 2011. Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation will close its tabloid News of the World after this Sunday's edition, as a result of an escalating phone hacking scandal, James Murdoch said on Thursday. [Photo/Agencies]

In an astonishing response to a scandal engulfing his media empire, Rupert Murdoch shut down the News of the World on Thursday, Britain's biggest selling Sunday newspaper.

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