The Leveson Report

It would be wrong for anyone with a blog to ignore the report published today, laws governing the media have the potential to be used regarding independently controlled forms of media such as this and, to a lesser extent, even social media. However it appears that there is no suggestion of anything resembling an umbrella law to control all forms of public media, in fact as it stands there is a debate about whether a law is even what is needed going on in parliament right as I type these words.
The summary of the report (46 pages, only a summary) seems to focus on the role of the PCC and not that of parliament, however I fully support the use of legislation to ensure the press is unable to continue with this culture of public abuse and taking their pick of what laws they want to apply to them then ignoring any legal problem that gets in the way of a good story, whether it is true or not.
What amuses me is the way the parties in the commons are experiencing something of a role reversal, the conservatives are fighting against legislation while the more left wing parties, including the governmental lib-dems, are in favour of changing the law. This change has come about because the Tories will always favour the freedom of the rich over the protection of the masses, lets move on before I get to bogged down in party politics.
The freedom of speech and the free media must be protected, without freedom of expression we cease to truly be free individuals. This does not mean that the press should be free from legal structure and regulation that ensures that the media respects it's readers and the people involved in it's stories. Self regulation is undeniably the best possible system, but it does not work under the current system. The PCC has no power over anything, a new body is needed to protect the public. If it were possible for this body to be established and run without statutory backing then it would be, however if it has legal backing then this new body would be given real power over the illegal actions of the press. The politicians giving this body power is very different from politicians giving themselves power over the press.
Truly independent regulation has failed, a new system is needed and the law should back this system. Today's report is going to have a massive effect on the media, let's hope the government are able to make sure it has the correct one.