04/10/2019
Today brought the news that the Duke of Sussex has commenced proceedings against the owners of the Sun, the News of the World (no longer operating) and the Daily Mirror, in relation to alleged phone-hacking.
This comes a week after his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, started legal action against the Mail on Sunday for the publication of a private letter.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have endured a prolonged period of harassment from certain sections of the press. There have been numerous articles which have been extremely aggressive and completely without merit.
I have written about one of these instances before, such was the disgust I felt for the way that the couple were being attacked. So, I am both sad and pleased. I am really sad that the abuse has continued and driven both the Duke and Duchess to instigate legal proceedings against the media. However, I am also extremely pleased that they have been brave enough to do this.
They deserve to be free of the appalling attacks they have suffered since news of their relationship became public, and even more so since their marriage.
I sincerely hope that this action will lead to the gutter press being forced to act honourably.
I also hope that this is a catalyst for change. That journalism, at least in the UK, will be held to account and forced to clean up its act. The Leveson Inquiry made recommendations including the formation of a new press standards body, backed by legislation, and with a new code of conduct. However, nothing really has changed.
David Cameron was apparently uncomfortable with the idea of state interference in the press and rejected the idea of legislation to underpin the new system of regulation. This has proven, once again, to be a mistake.
We have proper regulation in other industries and it is obviously time for there to be proper regulation of journalism.
Proper regulation does not mean removing the principle of a 'free press'. Proper regulation does not mean 'state controlled media'.
What it does mean is holding the press to account; expecting of them the highest standards of professionalism and ethics.
The word 'newspaper' suggests that it is going to deliver the news, and that's what they should do:
report the facts, not the propaganda; and
save opinions for a separate and clearly marked section of an article, recognising the opinions for what they are; advertisements for the views and ideology of the author, or perhaps more accurately the owner of the newspaper.
If our newspapers wish to retain the 'freedom of the press', they need to up their game and clean up their act. If they carry on harassing innocent people, whether they are Royals, celebrities or 'ordinary citizens', regulation must be introduced to force them to stick to reporting the news and to stop the senseless and unwarranted targeting of those who don't deserve it.
This is not about censorship.
Instead, it is about standing up to the media moguls and calling a halt to the abuse that's been going on for far too long.
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