The press regulation deal has left much of the newspaper industry dismayed. Photograph: Paul Hackett/Reuters
A shellshocked newspaper industry was struggling to come to terms with a sudden all-party agreement to create a powerful new press regulator designed to prevent a repeat of the phone-hacking scandal.
The independent regulator will have powers to impose fines and demand prominent corrections, and courts will be allowed to impose exemplary damages on newspapers that fail to join the body.
All three party leaders hailed the "historic" deal, sealed in extraordinary late-night talks on Sunday in the office of the Labour leader Ed Miliband after months of wrangling, but many of the country's leading newspaper publishers were ominously wary.
"A government-established regulatory body, regardless of how independent it is intended to be, could pose a threat to media freedom," she said, adding that the phone-hacking scandal was a "criminal issue" which was being dealt with through prosecutions in the criminal courts. "This should not be used as an excuse to rein in all print media," she said.
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2013/mar/18/press-regulation-newspapers-furious-deal
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