Implementing Leveson: how national newspaper groups use local press as “human shields”

Four years after the publication of the Leveson report, and shortly after the recognition of IMPRESS as an approved regulator, the UK government launched a new consultation into two issues of press regulation, closing on 10 January. The consultation invites views both on section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013, and on whether Part 2 of the Leveson Inquiry, which would address the relationship between the press and the police, is still “appropriate, proportionate and in the public interest.” Hugh Tomlinson QC, Chair of Hacked Off, argues that the local press are being used by national newspaper groups as a shield to avoid regulation.