At lunchtime on Sunday, Hacked Off’s online petition calling on the main party leaders to implement the Leveson recommendations on press regulation in full passed 100,000 signatures. People continue to sign and the number is climbing so rapidly that this may be Britain’s fastest-growing online petition ever.
Professor Brian Cathcart, Director of Hacked Off, said:
This is a powerful indication of the strength of public feeling on Leveson.
We have long known that the public is firmly behind effective, independent regulation of the press, which is what the Leveson Report recommends.
We hope that the Prime Minister, who last Thursday appeared to reject a key part of the recommendations, is listening to the voice of the public, just as he promised he would in his evidence under oath at the Leveson Inquiry.
He also promised to listen to the voices of people who have suffered from press abuses, and they have clearly stated their approval for the Leveson proposals.
The House of Commons debates the Leveson Report tomorrow and Hacked Off is calling on all MPs to stand up to press bullying and propaganda and ensure that self-regulation is guaranteed by law to be independent and effective, as the judge has declared is essential.
There must be no fixes or fudges, and no more last chances for editors and proprietors who have been found guilty by the Leveson Inquiry of causing devastating harm to the lives of innocent people.
Hacked Off has robust procedures in place to ensure that the petition results are not open to abuse. A continuous process of verification is under way and false or repeat signatures, where found, are removed from the total number given on the website. We have uncovered very little evidence of such abuses.
Brilliant – it’s time the press were properly held to account, just like the rest of us.
if they don,t regulate them selfs properly then the law must step in to make it happen
The government are siding with perpetrators of crimes rather than the victims. It’s seems to me they only agreed to an enquiry because they knew they could simply ignore it. I shouldn’t be surprised at this staggering injustice, yet somehow I am. I honestly thought there was still a shred of decency somewhere.
Congratulations. What stalling process will PM find now?
Finn McCann
Well done
Congratulations on this achievement. We need to go much further though. This corrupt government has already reneged on its e-petition pledge and ignored many that have grown well past the 100,000 mark. The people of Britain are stitched up every day by the oligarchy of Westminster, the press and the banks and we need to fight back. This is an excellent cause around which to unite. The press barons are a self-serving, dishonest collection of owners and editors who manipulate their power and their contacts for personal political and financial gain. They and their sleazy hacks are entirely distinct from the noble profession of journalism.
At all costs we must resist any attempt to revert to ‘self-regulation’. The lunatics have been in charge of the asylum for too long.
http://peterreynolds.wordpress.com/2012/12/02/the-only-freedom-of-the-press-that-fleet-street-wants-is-the-freedom-to-distort-mislead-and-exploit/
The average Parliamentary Constituency has 80k voters, but if we assume a 50% turn out that’s 40k. So far Hacked Off has the equivalent of three Parliamentary Constituencies.
This is so important. The recommendations made by Leveson are fair and really very obvious. But however enthusiastically the press might say they will implement them, in five or ten years down the line they will become watered down and the committee will become like Pete Townshend’s song, “here comes the new boss, same as the old boss.”
Don’t let that happen. Sign the petition and persuade the government to put into place legislation that will prevent the new system from being undermined by politicians, editors and the newspaper owners.
This is not putting the government in charge of the press, this is putting the public in charge.
Keep up the good work!
Off topic but for your information, the link to the right, ‘NO MORE LAST CHANCES FOR THE MEDIA BARONS’, is malformed and leads to a 404 page.
Thanks very much Jan, we’ve fixed this now!
People are smelling a rat. You commission an inquiry at vast expense, then ignore the recommendations. Cameron is either bought and paid for, or afraid of what the press might reveal about him. This is his Iraq. The British public is sleeping dog, but now we are growling.
I heard some political editors of the press say the public do not care or ‘understand’ the issues raised by The Leveson Inquiry, that we have no grasp of the concept of a free press or Statutory basis or foundation to a new regulatory body. This is insulting to say the least. That people, ordinary, well informed and deeply concerned members of the public have signed this petition in such numbers shows the level of conern we have over this issue. I implore the government to take serious notice of this, and not throw away our signatures.
Leveson report must be acted upon
I don’t know whether the comment on the robustness of the petition was recently added but it’s good it’s there.
“Hacked Off has robust procedures in place to ensure that the petition results are not open to abuse. A continuous process of verification is under way and false or repeat signatures, where found, are removed from the total number given on the website. We have uncovered very little evidence of such abuses.”
Typical lefty nonsense and lies!
I have clear and indisputable evidence that the petition has multiple signatures from the same individuals.
The petition is utterly discredited.
So Hacked Off has removed my post for stating that its petition was discredited by multiple signatures from the same source. Not keen on free speech, then? Who would have thought it?
Freedom of speech is a precious cornerstone of a democratic society and we need a robust press and media to expose the liars and cheats in all walks of life.When a dictator comes to power the first victim is the free press. Murdoch is a dictator who hides behind the words “Free Speech” to impose his own appalling lack of respect for the accepted standards of morality and decency in a healthy society. Under his guidance and other media Barons the modern press have arrogantly abused this precious freedom They have been exposed and must pay the price by the implementation of the Leveson report in full.
Congratulations on the ongoing strength this petition is gaining.
We both received a letter from our local (Tory) MP which was staggering in it’s arrogance and pomposity.
Let’s hope we can do something about the stance our “leaders” seem to be taking over this grave issue.