News
Express & Star Editor calls on MPs to reject data protection bill press freedom curbs
Express & Star Editor Keith Harrison, along with other local newspaper editors from independent weekly publications and larger publishing companies, has urged MPs to vote against anti-press amendments in the Data Protection Bill on Wednesday.
Speaking out against the Section 40-style costs sanctions and the sprawling inquiry into all media, senior local newspaper editors – speaking for the vast majority of the regional press industry – said the draconian measures would cause irreparable damage to the sector if enacted.
Express & Star editor Keith Harrison said: “One of the fundamental principles at the Express & Star is our unwavering commitment to independent journalism which is completely free from any form of state interference. The sustained attempts to bring in Section 40 costs sanctions and kick off a sprawling inquiry into the media undermine this principle and we therefore oppose them.”
In an anonymous survey of local newspaper editors conducted by the News Media Association, 92 per cent of respondents said they did not think another “Leveson-style” inquiry into the media should take place with the remaining eight per cent saying they weren’t sure. Not one of the 68 survey respondents thought the inquiry should go ahead.
