I signed this and got this email today...Dear friend of Hacked Off, Despite desperate last-minute sabotage attempts by the big newspaper companies, the Royal Charter on press self-regulation received its final approval yesterday evening. This means that, eleven long months after the Leveson Inquiry made its recommendations, change can actually begin. It will be a slow business and there are still many arguments to be won and minds to be changed, but this is a big milestone on the way to better protection for the public from the kinds of press abuses that made the Inquiry necessary. We at Hacked Off want to thank you for your magnificent help in making this happen. Just to remind you: •Together we built a petition of 100,000+ in just one weekend and showed politicians that the public really cares about this issue. •Together weve emailed every MP in the country, again and again, at the exact moments when it really mattered. •Together we weighed in to the official consultation on the bid by the press for a royal charter of their own. You registered about 19,000 objections while the big papers mustered only a couple of hundred in support. •Together weve also raised tens of thousands of pounds – money that was vital in helping us take on the wealthy newspaper companies. As we all know, this is not the first time in history there has been demand for a more ethical press, and one of the key reasons this time is different and there is real progress is that you have been there. Never before has the public been able to influence the debate, and now that has happened it has made a huge difference. So thank you, and we hope you too are proud today. It’s not over. The big newspaper groups still need to be persuaded to see sense and that will take time and effort. There are other things Leveson recommended that haven’t been acted on, such as more openness in relations between ministers and editors. We want to keep up the pressure for change and we’ll need your help. Today we are not asking for money (though please feel free to donate here if you can). Today we want you to help extend our reach and help us bring more people into the campaign. Do you know anybody else who supports our activities and who might be willing to do a simple thing like sending an email at the right moment? If you do, please email them and ask them to join our supporter list. A personal message from a friend is the single most effective way to bring people in, and all they have to do is sign up here. We know from the polls that there are countless thousands out there who share our views. The more of them who actively support our campaign, the more we can achieve. So please help by sending an email. We’ll be in touch again, though we try to call on you only when it really matters. In the meantime, please go to our website to follow our exclusive coverage of the phone hacking trial (you cant trust the newspaper coverage after all) and – thank you again. Yours, Brian Cathcart Executive director, Hacked Off
Posted on: Thu, 31 Oct 2013 10:03:13 +0000