Britain's government minister responsible for the media said Sunday the country's press must face tougher penalties for breaches of standards in the wake of the tabloid phone-hacking scandal. Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt also said newspapers must change their system of self-regulation, but insisted the government should not have any role in enforcing standards.
The current watchdog, the Press Complaints Commission, is funded by the industry and can demand a newspaper publishes an apology, but has no power to issue fines. Some lawmakers have previously suggested journalists who breach ethics rules should be prevented from working.
Britain's media ethics inquiry, which has heard evidence from celebrities including J.K. Rowling and Hugh Grant, crime victims, newspaper executives and reporters, is expected to recommend major changes to press regulation when it issues findings later this year. "I think everyone recognizes we don't want the state regulating content," Hunt told BBC television.
But Hunt said Britain needed "a tougher system and I would like it to be an industry-led system," but added that "if a newspaper is going to be punished for stepping out of line then it needs to be a credible punishment."
The country's broadcasters are regulated by a separate communications industry watchdog. Hunt's comments follow new developments in the police investigations into alleged wrongdoing by Britain's tabloids.
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