Leveson inquiry: Roy Greenslade issues statement calling for state-powered press regulation

FORMER tabloid editor Roy Greenslade has told the Leveson inquiry that press regulation needs “state involvement” if public confidence in British journalism is to be restored.

Greenslade, a professor of journalism at City University London and ex-editor of the Daily Mirror, told the inquiry into press ethics that Parliament must “power” regulation.

He said in a statement that national newspapers have a “track record of ethical malpractice” and “commerce” is the “motor for bad press behaviour”.

“National newspapers compete aggressively for audiences and, in so doing, have a track record of ethical malpractice,” says Professor Greenslade, who will appear at the inquiry in London today.

“I think self-regulation could, and should, have worked. It did not.

“I have struggled to come to terms with the need for some kind of state involvement.

“But, in order to clean the house and to restore public confidence in our journalism, I reluctantly agree that Parliament will need to provide enough power to a regulatory system to ensure that it has real teeth.”

In his statement, published on the inquiry website, Greenslade adds: “My inescapable conclusion is that the motor for bad press behaviour is commerce.”