Gerry McCann calls for press control laws – and 75% of the public agree

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2013/feb/09/gerry-mccann-leveson-inquiry-press-control-laws

Gerry McCann calls for press control laws – and 75% of the public agree

Poll shows overwhelming support for missing Madeleine's father on how Leveson inquiry findings must be enforced

Gerry McCann is to reveal on Monday that he and his wife, Kate, fear they have "relived our darkest days" needlessly in the vain hope that new legislation would be introduced to control the press.

"Leveson without the law is meaningless," the father of missing Madeleine McCann will tell a Westminster audience at a conference for politicians and the victims of media intrusion.

His speech, which will call for speedy legislation to implement the recommendations made by Lord Justice Leveson at the end of his nine-month inquiry, comes in the wake of a poll seen by the Observer showing that almost three-quarters of the public agree with him.

Conducted by YouGov for the Media Standards Trust, the poll also indicates an even bigger proportion – 83% – want more distance between politicians and the media, or at least greater transparency about the relationship, while another substantial majority would like immediate government action to control the press.

McCann will address hacking victims and members of parliament, expected to include culture secretary Maria Miller, at the Hacked Off Victims Conference.

"Kate and I had the misfortune to suffer from everything the press could throw at us," the doctor will tell his audience.

"The reason we subsequently agreed to the ordeal of giving evidence to the Leveson inquiry was that we don't want anyone else to have to go through what we went through.

"The Leveson package, including legal underpinning, is the minimum acceptable compromise for us and, judging by the polls, for the public at large. Leveson without the law is meaningless."

Supporters of the campaign group Hacked Off, including Charlotte Church, Hugh Grant and the falsely accused Bristol teacher Christopher Jefferies, believe the government has blocked parliamentary attempts to enact the recommendations of the inquiry report.

"When the prime minister promised to protect those who have been 'picked up and thrown to the wolves' by this process, we hoped for real change," McCann will say.

"The idea that Kate and myself, and the other victims, might have relived our darkest days in the full glare of the media for no good reason is just galling."

The YouGov poll found that, like McCann, 73% of the 2,030 adults surveyed last month would have "not much" or "no" confidence in a new system of voluntary press regulation with no legal backing. And 73% of respondents also said they believe that meetings between politicians and senior media figures should be made public, while only 10% said they should not.

The Media Standards Trust, a charity lobbying for reform and press accountability, believes the poll gives more weight to the argument that the government has now consulted widely enough. The poll the trust commissioned shows that 64% of those asked favour the introduction of a new regulatory system within 12 months or sooner.

"This poll shows that the public overwhelmingly support implementation of Leveson, and do not have confidence in a system set up by the press without proper independent oversight. There's a real fear that, if things do not change substantially, the same illegal and unethical practices will recur," said the director of the Media Standards Trust, Dr Martin Moore.

"The public also want politicians to become a lot more transparent, and not revert to the cosy relationships they enjoyed before the Leveson inquiry."

Supporters of press legislation took heart last Tuesday when peers unexpectedly passed an amendment to the Defamation bill to introduce one of Leveson's key recommendations – a simple arbitration service between newspapers and those who feel wronged.

Use of an arbitration service would be voluntary and form part of the newspaper industry's own self-regulatory system, but the amendment would allow courts to vary costs and damages depending on whether the service has been used.

MPs and ministers who do not wish to accept the Lords amendment will now have to overturn the planned legislation in the Commons.

Meanwhile, the chair of the Press Complaints Commission, Lord Hunt of Wirral, is meeting newspaper editors to decide how to respond to the recent changes to the bill.

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That'll be something else for them to froth and foam about.

Re: Gerry McCann calls for press control laws
Jean Today at 9:37 am

Seeing the number of undesirables who gravitate towards politics, ranging from those who fiddle their expenses to those who are paedophiles, it does seem to be an obvious choice for Gerry.

All in my humble opinion of course!

What a strange thing to say! Gerry McCann hasn't stood for public office, but we all know who has, don't we?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Bennett_(politician)

Quote:

Bennett became active in politics when he lived in Derbyshire from 1972 to 1978.[1] In May 1976, he was voted onto North East Derbyshire District Council as an Independent Labour candidate for the Hasland Ward, where he served until 1978.[1] In 1978, he moved to Harlow where, in 1985, he joined Harlow Constituency Labour Party.

Bennett founded two credit unions in the 1980s - the Harlow Community Credit Union in 1980 and, in 1988, the Harlow Council Employees Credit Union.[citation needed] They merged several years later to form HarlowSave Credit Union.[8]
In November 1997, Bennett left the Labour party and joined the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP).[1] In April 1999, he became the Campaign Manager for UKIP's Eastern Region campaign and, in July 1999, he became Political Assistant to Jeffrey Titford, UKIP MEP, a post he held until February 2001.[1] In January 2000, he co-founded the UKIP's Metric Martyrs Fund with Jeffrey Titford, and published leaflets encouraging traders to defy the new laws making it an offence to sell fruit, vegetables and other "loose goods" using weighing scales calibrated in pounds and ounces.[9] He stood for UKIP in Harlow in the 2001 General Election, where he finished fifth with 1,223 votes (3%).[10]

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That the kind of thing the Troll Queen is so against?

That the kind of thing the Troll Queen is so against?

Must be, Bonny. She used all the correct words, so that lets Bennett in.

Hounder:

V. interesting ones too.
Kate looks very rough, worse than I've ever seen her. She is aging twice as fast as her husband.
Now wouldn't Gerry look good as BigBrother? Kitchener style poster: What would he be saying?

Don't know about Gerry McCann, but we do know what someone else would look like...

Courtesy of:

Sean Hyland
@ShyLand_
I’m not the sharpest knife in the block but I’m not the village idiot. I am no conspiracy nut. My best friend is called Tristan. He's a potato.

Gerry McCann calls for press control laws – and 75% of the public agree
frencheuropean Today at 2:01 pm

Have you seen the comments on the Guardian? Some, probably anti, vere suppressed but there are still a lot of comments that freely explain the games played by the McCann with the medias:

Really? Let's take a look, shall we?

Peter MacLeod
10 February 2013 8:28am

He sez:

I agree to the extent that the Press should not be allowed to print stories of false sightings, (India, New Zealand

1. Why on earth does he think he's entitled to dictate what the press may or may not print? Oh wait, I know, it's their idea of Free Speach.

2. The sightings were not 'false'. They were mistakes, but genuine and well-intentioned mistakes.

This is good.

Peter MacLeod
10 February 2013 8:48am
This comment was removed by a moderator because it didn't abide by our community standards. Replies may also be deleted. For more detail see our FAQs.



Oh, here's another notorious hatertroll:

HayleyNLakely20
10 February 2013 8:23am
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I think we get the picture, and so do the media. Every single time they leave comments on any story with the word 'McCann' in it, the word goes round the hate sites and they are swamped with hatespammers.

Who then rush back to their home hate sites to report that, Tick tock, the tide is turning.

No, it isn't. The media must know their ips off by heart by now - they do this every single time.

Now what is that saying regarding insanity?

Oh yes, repeating the same thing over and over whilst expecting a different result?

well done Mr. McCann, keep up the good work.

My friends, this was taken from The Express UK newspaper:

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/376695/Law-should-back-press-regulation

Gerry McCann: Make Leveson's Proposals Law

Lord Leveson's proposals should be made law "without checking whether the press is happy", Mr McCann tells Sky.

2:41pm UK, Wednesday 13 February 2013



Gerry and Kate McCann arrive to give evidence to the Leveson Inquiry

The father of missing Madeleine McCann has told Sky News that the Government should put Lord Leveson's recommendations into law "without meddling and back-door deals".

Writing for Sky News Online, Dr Gerry McCann said: "Anything less than Leveson's full recommendations will never satisfy the victims of press abuse."

Dr McCann and his wife Kate gave evidence to Lord Justice Leveson's inquiry into press standards and ethics about their treatment by the media following the disappearance of their daughter Madeleine in May 2007.

She disappeared from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, shortly before her fourth birthday and the family has been the subject of high-profile press coverage ever since.

The McCanns were among dozens of witnesses who gave evidence to Lord Leveson in the wake of the 2011 phone-hacking scandal which ultimately led to the closure of the News Of The World Sunday tabloid.

The Leveson Report proposed that a new press regulator needed statutory underpinning if it were to be truly independent.

But Prime Minister David Cameron has argued against the need for new legislation to bring the press to heel.

The Conservatives have unveiled plans for a Royal Charter which Culture Secretary Maria Miller said would allow the principles in Lord Leveson's report to be "implemented swiftly and in a practical fashion".

She said: "I have grave concerns about a press bill and am not convinced that it is necessary on the grounds of principle, practicality or necessity."

But Dr McCann, who is active in the Hacked Off campaign, was critical of the charter proposal saying: "The Conservative party can't rewrite Leveson now."

Hacked Off earlier dismissed the Charter plan as "a surrender to press pressure" and reiterated its call for Lord Leveson's recommendations to be implemented in full.

http://news.sky.com/story/1051659/gerry-mccann-make-levesons-proposals-law

So what has Mr. Cameron got to hide, beyond his slightly dubious Expenses Claims?
So he didn't actually break The Law of Parliament regarding Expenses, but he did walk a very fine Moral Line for a relatively wealthy man. And he would have broken The Law according to the new standards.
Labour will win the next Election for all the good that this will do for England. But I really don't care any more. They all have vastly different principles to mine.
Something seems to happen to them when they walk through The Portals. And do you know what? There is absolutely nothing that anyone can do about it.
Get out now if you wish to survive the decline and fall of England.
Hopefully this won't happen to Scotland.