UK Parliament / Open data

Defamation Bill

Proceeding contribution from Paul Farrelly (Labour) in the House of Commons on Wednesday, 12 September 2012. It occurred during Debate on bills on Defamation Bill.

I entirely agree. I do not propose a return to the bad old regime, but I hope that the Government will give some thought to the remarks made by my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent South and the hon. and learned Member for Harborough. The situation is unbalanced now and we need to address that.

So often, if people do not sue, our media do not take them seriously. That simply increases the licence to libel. I know people who defend responsible journalism and investigative journalists who have had to take that course of action because newspapers with an agenda have been out to get them; if they did not threaten or take legal action, the situation would never change. I believe the culture of our media needs to be borne in mind, as we will be reminded when Lord Leveson reports next month.

Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
550 c327 
Session
2012-13
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
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