by Brian CathcartSomebody once suggested that Hacked Off should adopt The Who’s Won’t Get Fooled Again as its theme song. It seems more appropriate than ever at the moment as the big newspaper groups pump out dishonest propaganda about an alleged threat to press freedom.The only press freedom that is under threat today is the freedom of people employed by some sections of the press to lie, intrude and bully. The Royal Charter on press self-regulation, far from challenging the freedom of journalists to work in the interests of the public, could serve as an international model for the protection of that freedom.But the big press companies have no arguments left, so they resort to a kind of orchestrated bluster. If they shout ‘White is black!’ often enough through their big megaphone, they hope, we will all begin to believe it.It’s a lurid form of what they did in 1990-94, the last time the public demanded that they change, and no doubt they remind each other that on that occasion they got away with it. But we won't get fooled again.Among the many ironies of their campaign is that, if they sincerely cared about free speech, these papers would have behaved differently all along. For one, they would have embraced Lord Justice Leveson’s radical proposal for a British equivalent of the U.S. First amendment entrenching the protection of press freedom. For another, they would be grabbing the opportunity offered by the Royal Charter to liberate investigative journalism from the ‘chilling’ power of wealthy litigants.But that’s not the kind of freedom they are interested in. Instead this small group of powerful editors and proprietors wants the freedom to publish falsehoods about ordinary people without allowing any real hope of redress, and to intrude in their private lives and steal their private data without any public interest justification, and to bully and blackmail people. And to do this for no higher motive than profit. They want power without responsibility – or rather they have it and they want to keep it. But we won't get fooled again.Here are ten points they should remember about press freedom and the Royal Charter:

1. 1. The Charter states clearly (Schedule 3, par 17): ‘The Board [of a new press self-regulator] should not have the power to prevent publication of any material, by anyone, at any time . . .’
2. 2. The Charter does not establish a regulator, merely an independent body (the Recognition Panel) that will carry out periodic checks on a press self-regulator to ensure it isn’t another sham like the Press Complaints Commission.
3. 3. The Recognition Panel is not a quango: ministers are allowed no part in its management, oversight or appointments process.
4. 4. The Charter also ensures that politicians can’t control or influence the press self-regulator.
5. 5. The Charter is a charter and not an Act of Parliament, because the press didn’t want this done by statute. And what is happening is not, by any stretch, statutory regulation (like Ofcom). Let alone state regulation (like arms export licences).
6. 6. The Charter terms can only be changed if a two-thirds majority in Parliament approves. This is to make sure that – unlike normal charters – it can’t be quietly changed at the whim of ministers. If it is to be changed at all, there will have to be a full public debate and rare political consensus. (And it is worth remembering that, since we have no written constitution or First Amendment, Parliament could legislate at any time by simple majority to restrict press freedom more effectively in some other way. So the Charter has special protection, twice over.)
7. 7. The Charter regime would involve self-regulation with a far, far lighter touch than exists in UK broadcasting. No one suggests that the system at the BBC prevents the likes of Paxman and Humphrys from challenging politicians.
8. 8. There is no evidence that our politicians want to gag the press, as newspapers insist they do. The Leveson Inquiry could not find a single advocate of state regulation. In fact, if we have a problem, it is politicians who are too friendly with the press.
9. 9. The Charter system as a whole, which incorporates changes to the way court costs operate, will liberate investigative journalism. For years editors and reporters have complained that wealthy people and companies could silence them merely by threatening long and outrageously expensive legal actions. That will no longer be possible.
10. 10. The Charter system is not all about the press and its freedoms. It is also about protecting ordinary innocent people – often people in acutely vulnerable positions – from the kinds of abuses that made the Leveson Inquiry necessary. Most newspaper groups have shown absolutely no concern about this issue, and absolutely no remorse. Instead they cover it up and try to distract us with empty talk of threats to press freedom.

The big newspaper groups don’t tell their readers any of this. Instead they are talking nonsense and they know they are. But we won’t get fooled again.Professor Brian Cathcart is Executive Director of Hacked Off.