Lord Wakeham Letter to Inquiry

For Distribution to CPs
HOL}£ ~I LCNI[
Oourts of Justice.
St~’snd
L
WC2A 2 LL
-°
I wonaer ff it would he he] Jul if I ser ~u~_ some Ints
inetp
-;~o-ur Inqu:l~° in ~o }Press Stun dso I do so
cui~ri~
a view [o d~z
en I issues re g 1<~ fh~
ring of mj-uncdons and anon] d
the passa Ie of the
in/unctions with "~i~ich [ was dos~y involved
Hu
~ s Ac~ lggs and how self- repa
rm m~ght u
iiI
neip de~ with some of the pr eros thai have ams\en in this ~<ea,
;ts pou will
w i #as Chairman :)f° the ~ess C aints C
savors
:tom 1998 ~:c 2001 t was not
<o ~ne issues when £
}cfb The
3overnment o~7
oh ~ nae oecn a member c}r£fl 1994 had
e<s Ks
intenuon - fhllowin~ me secon i Calcutt Repor~ ~n [991 - [c introduce a
~ys~.{~m of staI:uto~¢ controls on the press. It is no ~rsa~
t tha~. f
an of
Cabk~et c
t~-ee
C
lo d into ~ow we woulG
k in ~eat depth° I s £i~
~:mple
this. Ha m~ stu
deal
.o ~}ohr Ma] sr tha~ :his
ld an
[’ac ~
e~en dan~e s idea
~n8 h{~ acce d my
ce.
])n ray
~< as 3ha an sf the PCC set about ,hi <o
~mp~v< Ks Re
ance and
ta~ion - which ha<~ been battered
maml biy a seines of dals
rs of Rcyal
g [o
~na I sonsider I had some success, f
a}s
tha~t m) ~sk was
n(H ~o b{s e~ -r{~a]ator~ )ut ~c
svour [,C ~]ise
d s in th{ press
ahovs the
imu~ required bY law throu£h a orocess of" edueatk}n=
atios
~udfc n.
As os~ o~
process~ I per
d the newsp
~
s~ren~<nen KS Code of
c~ seve~m
s frsdudin g s_ ~olesa]e
~/}ds~on partic:ul on maz, te~ ~ re.! g zc pri foliowing [nea
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For Distribution to CPs
Diana. Princess of Wales in !997, The new elements of :he Code
especiaD(y on children ann :he use of long lens phetograph~ have th~nk
proved largel~
[ never consider it was my role ~o look into allegations of cfimmaiity or
[lb~atftyo Quite apart from the practical implicatLons of t ~ T.o pan a
quasi-police operation we never had the resources o~ -~ovTers to dc so~
When matters of a suspicious nature came up we [herefore declined [o
deal with them and referred them to the relevan~ authorities [o take thorn
uD The same happened on ma ;tots brougl~ ~:o me WhiCh were ck:ar!y
libelous or lnvo]v~n g breach o~ copyiZh~o
Sas~d on my expenepx:e at the PCCo and m) own beliefs as a
Par!iament~dan in f,~edom of
ssion, I remeHn ~w}
osed rc
@e h~position of
m~ corKrcds, Fhey are
£ in pnnmpte and
ld no~ work fn practice°
ondy an
thor
is to s~ren£ %~en
self rc£~_ on, t am quite sure that t/he way fb
here is m
d~eren t~a~te between zo
and corn p ce~
have never behoved there t,o :}e a si£nifi
problem with the PCC%
corn
ts
dHng mechanisms The Contains}on ~s
goes a.~
reso
g raps< complaints
u~ cos< speedily
as f~r an I on.: ld
discern ~o ~ne satisfaction of ~he si can[ m~[orky of compI~nantso
This of course ~s u’xactly what the ~ess C laints Co ssion was set
u p [o ao on th ~ s~dvice of Calcutt Bv~ over the years~ it has added on
f%ancdons
~e st a more
latoE}- nature wf
t its structures or
remit bein~
nded
. Most of this has happened m rr~ last
few3 ears° cul sting in ~b_e disastrous :report on p~rlone h
g, ] also
suspect that the P~C~s Gove~,ance
wkln
I was mot
impressed bried [o remodel i_ as a t
qua~n~), fhr
ed from
its )ri~inal rnission~ or its p rn or expertise,
think the first thfnM that has to happen ~n ~o
a_te out and renew
the basic c ~ints handling function. This is raH wna:t rna~Kers
most ~o ordin~ memb~:rs of the public ~d is @so probably of @~eatest
practical impnrta~ce 1~ the in~ust%% parfieularlN in the rc~on~ press
]"he bulk of the complaints of course, relate largel], to accuracy and
especialIN in a digits] age., ~re reiadve]) canN to re~)ive°
Person
~ ~ think aH this eouM be ves~ea m an "O d
n
who
ld
o~4sty need tr ea c
hun
g
but would
mo~ need a Commission ins size it in nova or the complex bureaucraq¢
tha~ has £rown up
nd tlhe PCC~ The 0
ds
and his staff could
deal with most straigh ~wt complaints ~nd c6<nciliat.e them: but
where an adjudic
was ne<{ded on a point o~ Drmciple this could oe
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For Distribution to CPs
!
n~a
~asse rs most~
£~ee con
~
£s
s
d have to b~
the ©~bu8
~s
et such a
s
s
of
~ses ere
sa~ app~
s
khe b
2£
~n
b~n
of L~e 0
d in
s on ~
ia
to
el
~e
Ke~ Cou~ was is
~~ ~y
% be
~ te th8
by J£~
a~
eu:
:but
{ ~o usa
~
s n~
f but
~
use Hum~
~
@d ~
no~
of
in me ~o~ ~f
Ln
£2 ef
tom
~m ~ @
~t
at~ to ac< ~n
~e~s~ :a @m Jsdge ~o exp}a~n dna~ h~s or bet
~whe~e,
J~d ~e
~d th~n
%
d
ct
on
[z~e,e~
ce ~n
a
j
wi
t ~e
ss~ve ~o~ts of
~.s ou~ of ~h ~
of ti~c
®f
~,~arding access m h~Sdcs. T}i~s ~
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For Distribution to CPs
p
arr
lany n~po
men~s: and
in view of the
~m of ~no w~n no fee’
S~ i£ as I hope, there is re
of the d
ation lam ~o introduce
°
so lson arb
r such a model might be of sam ~ p ica] us~ fn
Some will con
GqaL this
[ea~:s rive suost~n~ve oroblems: ho~ ~e
’~
establish s %¢anda>ds
re~ime~ which can lea]
issues <~r complaints
sf su~ a senous nature
it is no~ approp~-iate for ths Ombudsman%
nervier t:) dear}, with them. and how to ensure full indust~f- cornp}ianee
~i~ S~stem i%om th,{¢ poini of
)f
fng and indeed supper< br
ti~e Code.
On the
er there sse m
veo~ [ew occasions when ~ think such an
investigation would be required, if you consider reeen~ yesss~ and le g
Gne obvious fssu{ of h
g t<: one side, we are tooking at the MeOanns
the so-called "Cky Slickersf
back in 2OOl~ the issues tha~: arose
after the dearth of Dia~a m 1997 problem.~
ess pai~n]ents in tlhe
West t:mal in 1995 and perh ave7 £ew other events° ] dc not be
~nere :~s need for a pe
ent ood-% The Ombud
coull Re
s be
responsible for eat s g one wheme a or :~ssue ~risea or wsere he
~u s a corn@
to be s{: serious tAat It requires s substandsd
sOandards isvssti
re p
s of cornel s
rise ~o
n~ or
concerns about ths new
er
age
or indeeJ even an ndivJd~ai
r(~! poK.ero
On the issue of industo7 compliance° [ think this is the trickiest area. To
some extent k has ~wa}~s been apr m but in a ~uch less acute
m err there st< a
ful of veO" s~ali local or
e publish era
outside the s]~sEem~ and the BCC has been able ~:~ deal
more Ira
Norff~@~ a.n~ SheIl% skze which has prcduced the read danger~ For
myself ~ can’t unders~land ~ such a fargo
p ~sould wish to remain
out@de t/he s js~emo when the -}~ef]ts are so
the dan,-era o~
s[atu[:oO~ control so obvinuso [ think the indust~% needs t@ took quic~ ~i.
varfous 1mcep;[}ves, and
oR
when H
em and
is
~n -- which [~m
6: about produce bindin g agreements ~o Heep k there.
As someone vvgho
s senz so much time cons~ lering
se issues, goin£
back now os er ne~fy rsven%~ years, I do passionat ely hope %qat ways <e
strengtmen sew reguIaJon can ire found ra~her than a~y akernadve. Self
regutsdior~ will never be perfect, but h vorms both m pro~ect ord~naa~/
people an8 [o presem&~e press free@on m a way
tary controls wou]d
~Oto
[ hope these thoughts are of some use.
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