A British judge heading an inquiry into journalistic ethics was yesterday told that the “vast bulk” of the newspaper industry remained opposed to statutory regulation.
Lord Black of Brentwood, chairman of a publishing industry co-ordinating body, warned Lord Justice Leveson that statutory intervention could undermine independence.
In a written witness statement, he said: “I don’t believe any form of statutory regulation could cope with the pace of change.
“That is a fundamental belief about which the newspaper and magazine publishing industry is passionate and why it has always opposed any form of statutory intervention which would inevitably undermine the ‘constitutional principle’ of independence.” – (PA)