Accusations that the Press Complaints Commission is too weak and merely a ‘fig leaf’ for press ills have been dismissed by PCC Chairman Sir Christopher Meyer.
Speaking at an event held by the Media Society, Meyer said: "Nothing makes editors scream louder than when they know a complaint is going to go to a formal adjudication".
Meyer, who will stand down as PCC Chairman later this year, said that the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg posed a greater threat to press freedom than is generally recognised. He argued that the European court saw newspapers’ role as to inform rather than to entertain.
The former press secretary to John Major also cautioned against the introduction of a statutory privacy law, claiming it would become a "rich man’s charter" and would end up in "a horrible mess".
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