Tough talk: In a message to Rupert Murdoch, Mr Lewis said the integrity of media and politics was not for sale
Πηγή: Dailymail
By JASON GROVES
Sep. 28 2011
A shadow minister yesterday announced plans for a draconian crackdown on the Press.
Shadow Culture Secretary Ivan Lewis provoked a storm of protest when he suggested journalists should be licensed – meaning they could be ‘struck off’ and banned from working.
But within hours Ed Miliband was forced to disown the policy – as critics warned it would turn Britain into a banana republic in which ministers were able to silence awkward members of the Press.
Mr Lewis, who has in the past faced embarrassing revelations in newspapers about his own private life, told the conference the phone-hacking scandal meant the media could no longer be trusted to regulate itself.
He said existing media self-regulation was ‘broken’.
Mr Lewis suggested journalists should be licensed to practise, in a similar way to doctors. Any reporter found guilty of ‘gross malpractice’ could then be ‘struck off’ and barred from having their words published.
'Complex and tortuous...' Mr Lewis on the links between Labour and Murdoch's (pictured) papers
The idea was immediately condemned within the party and beyond. Critics warned it could even stifle Press investigations of the kind that exposed the hacking scandal.
Former Labour adviser Dan Hodges suggested the proposal must be a bad joke. ‘On the day of the leader’s speech we announce the state banning of journalists,’ he said. ‘Labour is ceasing to exist as a serious political party.’
Tory MP Philip Davies, a member of the Commons Culture Committee, which is investigating the phone-hacking scandal, warned Labour was in danger of ‘throwing the baby out with the bath water’.
‘Once the Government starts involving itself in the regulation of the media, that is a very slippery slope,’ he said. ‘It is the kind of thing that happens in Third World dictatorships.
‘We need a free Press and self-regulation – that is the cornerstone of a free society and democracy.
‘Where journalists have committed criminal acts we have the criminal law to deal with those people. We do not want to see people in Government deciding what can and cannot be written.’
His speech sparked panic in Mr Miliband’s office, with aides insisting the idea of striking off journalists had not been cleared with the Labour leader.
A senior party source said: ‘We’re not in the business of regulating journalists. We have always said self-regulation is the best policy.’
Journalists stand at the entrance to News International offices in Wapping at the height of the phone-hacking scandal
Tory MP Louise Mensch last night accused Labour of the ‘fastest U-turn in history’. She added: ‘This is another half-baked idea. We need a free, fair Press, not some state registry for journalists.’
Mr Lewis also launched an outspoken attack on Rupert Murdoch – one of several delegates to attack his media empire and condemn the ‘shame’ of Labour’s previously close links with News International.
Mr Lewis said the party should send a message: ‘This is Britain, Mr Murdoch, the integrity of our media and our politics is not for sale.’
Delegates were asked to back a motion calling for Mr Murdoch’s son James to stand down as chairman of BSkyB, and Labour MP Tom Watson, who has led the campaign over phone-hacking, said: ‘Let’s tell Ofcom what we think about James Murdoch. I wouldn’t put him on the board of an ornamental garden.’
Mr Watson claimed evidence would emerge that phone hacking also took place at The Sun – a claim denied last night by News International.
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