World press groups urge Queen not to sign ‘toxic’ and ‘repressive’ press regulation Royal Charter

A group of international press and media organisations has written directly to the Queen urging her not to approve the Royal Charter on press regulation which is set to go for approval by the Privy Council at the end of this month.

They argue it is not the role of a Royal Charter to impose "repressive statutory controls" which they say would bring Parliament into the "heart of the newsroom" for the first time.

The Queen is head of the Privy Council and gives her assent to all the Government decisions presented before it.

It is believed that the last time the monarch refused the Royal Assent for a piece of Government business was Queen Anne in 1705.

Media groups which include the World Association of Newspapers and the International Press Institute say in their letter to the Queen: “For more than three centuries since Britain abolished the last set of statutory controls on the press in 1695, the United Kingdom has been a consistent champion of the most crucial freedom of all – freedom of expression – and a beacon of liberty across the world.

“No one should be in any doubt that the proposed Royal Charter which politicians are forcing Your Majesty to sign is, despite the camouflage, in reality a set of repressive statutory controls being imposed on the press against its will. That should not be the function of a Royal Charter.”

The Royal Charter sets out the terms under which a recognition panel will license any new press regulation. But the groups reject the suggestion that this would bring about a system of “independent regulation”.

They say: “…by laying down rules about how that regulator must work and how the ethical codes that bind the press should be written this toxic charter brings Parliament for the first time ever to the heart of the newsroom. It breaches the fundamental principle that politicians must never get involved in editorial content regulation. And it lays the foundation for fully fledged statutory controls.”

The letter warns of a potential chilling effect on journalism not just in the UK, but around the world.

“The world still follows Britain in so many areas. If the UK moves to control the press through the force of law then it will have a terrifying knock-on effect throughout the Commonwealth and much of the developing world where Britain has a key leadership role.

“The fact that this is being done by Royal Charter – an instrument traditionally used to grant rights, not to curtail them – will make that infinitely worse because of the respect in which You personally, and the Crown institutionally, are held throughout the world.

"The actions of Britain’s Parliament will be used as an excuse by those who want to muzzle the press in their own country and stifle the free flow of information – and there are many governments who would love to do so. And it is your name, Your Majesty, that will regrettably be taken in vain.

They warn that the Royal Charter will be “seized on by enemies of free speech everywhere eager to impose similar controls”.

And the letter concludes: “We urge you, Ma’am, as the final guarantor of freedom of expression across the UK and your Commonwealth, not to sign this Charter.”

The main UK newspaper and magazine trade bodies have yet to reveal whether or not they will change their proposed new regulator, the Independent Press Standards Organisation, to fit in with the Royal Charter. If they don’t publishers would be left open to the threat of exemplary damages in legal actions under legislation linked to the Royal Charter.

Meanwhile the publisher-backed Free Speech Network today published the findings of a new poll which they said found that 62 per cent of Britons believe politicians should not have the final say on press regulation.

The letter to the Queen was signed by:

Commonwealth Press Union Media Trust
FIPP – The Worldwide Magazine Media Association
Inter American Press Association
International Association of Broadcasting
International Press Insititute
World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers
World Press Freedom Committee

Pressure group Hacked Off, which is in favour of the cross-party Royal Charter, said: "It’s obvious that these bodies have been duped into taking this initiative by the big British press companies. The letter shows that they are completely misinformed about the content and purpose of the Royal Charter and that unlike the British public they have fallen for the hysterical scaremongering of a small group of self-interested editors and proprietors.

"Worse than that, they don’t seem to realise the ludicrous position they have put themselves in by claiming to talk about democracy while demanding that the British monarch should deny the united will of every single party in Parliament.

"Everything about the letter from the seven organisations suggests that either it was dictated for them by the bosses of the Daily Mail, the Daily Telegraph and the Murdoch press, or that their knowledge of what is happening in Britain is informed exclusively by reading those papers, whose coverage has been biased to the point of parody.

"They say in their letter that the Royal Charter is 'in reality a set of repressive statutory controls' when it obviously isn’t. It is a Royal Charter and was designed as a Royal Charter as a concession to the press. Among other things, it states clearly that a press self-regulator 'should not have the power to prevent publication of any material, by anyone, at any time'."

Topics in this article : Royal Charter , The Queen

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Dominic Ponsford

@DomPonsford

Dominic Ponsford is the editor in chief of Press Gazette and has more than 20 years experience in journalism. Former Paul Foot Awards finalist and PPA editor of the year nominee 2022.