The Guardian view on Leveson part two: look ahead, not behind | Editorial
Is it feasible to improve the culture, practice and ethics of the press and at the same time protect and promote the best of journalism in the public interest? The government thinks so – without recourse to the second part of the Leveson inquiry. This approach should be given a chance. Leveson 2 had proposed to look at the extent of governance failings by newspapers, how these were investigated by the police and whether police officers received corrupt payments. The outcome of the independent review into the unsolved murder of the private investigator Daniel Morgan, which has been running for almost five years, may necessitate deeper examination of these issues. Lord Justice Leveson argues that his original inquiry into phone hacking only considered that done by the now defunct News of the World. Recent court settlements appear to show similar behaviour at the Mirror Group. The judge says reviewing all of the evidence would best serve the public interest. Yet in interrogating all these issues, important as they are, Leveson 2 would ultimately end up like a driver learning to steer by looking in the rear-view mirror at the road behind rather than the one ahead.
Newspapers today face an existential threat due to a combination of social, technical and economic factors. Their circulation has fallen by a third since the Leveson inquiry. In the last decade hundreds of newspapers have closed. Digital disordering of news has sucked revenues out of print. While more people than ever have access to newspaper content, it is the platforms like Facebook that have hoovered up the profits. Tech giants stood by as the information economy became contaminated by fake news and malicious foreign actors. Proceeding with Leveson 2 would raise the threat of press regulation while there is no sign of a regulatory framework for Silicon Valley firms that would make the polluter pay.
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