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February 7th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda
By
Vanessa Allen and Michael Seamark
Last updated at 2:31 AM on 7th February 2012
Paul Dacre yesterday: ‘I passionately believe in campaigning’
A new era of newspaper self-regulation was set out by the editor of the Daily Mail yesterday.
Paul Dacre proposed a fresh system of accrediting journalists which could be the ‘essential kite mark’ to safeguard press standards.
He told the Leveson Inquiry that the present system of press cards was ‘haphazard’.
Those guilty of the most serious misconduct could have their press cards removed, in the same way as doctors are struck off. But all newspapers and accredited freelance agencies would have to sign up for the scheme.
Mr Dacre suggested that agencies using paparazzi should be encouraged to join a reinvigorated and strengthened Press Complaints Commission, and said the public should be consulted in an inquiry to determine the practical definition of legitimate public interest.
And he voiced his support for recommendations made last week by the PCC chairman Lord Hunt, who has suggested a separate unit working alongside the new regulatory body to uphold standards; contracts to lock newspapers into the new body; and an arbitration system to settle privacy and libel complaints rapidly and cheaply reducing ‘predatory’ legal fees.
Mr Dacre, Fleet Street’s longest serving editor, said he accepted that the present PCC should be bolstered by a separate regulatory body to deal with abuses of standards.
Such a body could be run by a Press Ombudsman with powers to investigate editors and journalists and impose sanctions, including the removal of press accreditation.
Mr Dacre, editor-in-chief of Associated Newspapers, publisher of the Daily Mail, told the inquiry that the new system should come under one ‘umbrella body’ rather than the 17 bodies at the moment providing these cards.
‘By transforming it into an essential kite mark for ethical and proper journalism … the public at large would know journalists carrying such cards are bona fide operators, committed to a set of standards and a body to whom complaints can be made.’
Without the new press card, journalists would not have access to key Government briefings or official press conferences held by ministries, councils or the police, or to royal, sporting or celebrity events.
Mr Dacre said state licensing of journalists or regulation of newspapers was ‘clearly unacceptable’ and called on the industry to sign up to rigorous self-regulation.
‘By and large, the scandals that have emerged over the last few years and recently have been to do with issues that are above the law.
‘Hacking phones is illegal, paying policemen is illegal. I’m not sure what a self-regulatory body was meant to do about that.’
He said he was aware the newspapers had used search agents including Steve Whittamore, who was convicted of illegally accessing data in April 2005. Virtually every British newspaper and the BBC had used him before his conviction, said Mr Dacre, adding: ‘We didn’t realise what they were doing was illegal.’
Longest serving Fleet Street Editor: Mr Dacre arriving at the High Court in London, left, and leaving, right, after giving evidence to the Leveson Inquiry
Mr Dacre said information such as electoral registers, addresses, phone numbers and birth and death certificates was all available legally in the public domain but told the inquiry he had ‘moved decisively and ruthlessly’ to stop his journalists using such search agents in 2007.
He robustly defended the Daily Mail’s coverage of sensitive stories, including the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.
Questioned over an article written by Mail columnist Jan Moir about the death of Boyzone singer Stephen Gately in 2009, he said: ‘There isn’t a homophobic bone in Jan Moir’s body. I would die in the ditch to defend any of my columnists’ right to write what they wish.’
Mr Dacre told Lord Justice Leveson: ‘I would ask Your Honour to accept that, perhaps inevitably, the way the inquiry has been conducted and televised, the British public are receiving a very bleak and one-sided view of the press which isn’t fair and isn’t true. It is a great industry that employs thousands of journalists.’ Mr Dacre told the inquiry that the Mail ‘passionately believes in’ and takes ‘pride’ in its campaigning journalism.
He said the decision to devote the front page to an article naming the five men accused of Stephen Lawrence’s murder in 1997 and the subsequent campaign to bring them to justice is something of which he is ‘very proud’.
As a result, two of the five – Gary Dobson and David Norris – were this year found guilty of the racist killing, more than 18 years on.
Mr Dacre rejected the suggestion that the newspaper had taken up the campaign because Mr Lawrence’s father once did some plastering work for him.
He said: ‘Are you really telling me that I would risk going to jail, risk destroying my career, I would put my proprietor and my paper in that position, and that I couldn’t take a principled stand against something I felt very strongly, and that was only because this man at some stage many years previously had done some plastering work for me?
‘I really do find that insulting.’
Mr Dacre detailed several other high-profile campaigns he launched, including supporting the relatives of the Omagh victims in their action against Real IRA terrorists; the ‘Banish the Bags’ campaign aimed at limiting the use of disposable plastic bags; and calling on the Government to prevent the extradition of autistic computer hacker Gary McKinnon.
Mr Dacre added: ‘I’m trying to make the point that we do a lot of campaigns we passionately believe in.’
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