Royal charter : political parties reach deal on press regulation system.
The culture secretary, Maria Miller, has reached agreement with Labour and the Liberal Democrats over a new royal charter system for press regulation, after all three parties agreed on minor concessions aimed largely at placating local newspaper groups.
A final draft of the royal charter (pdf) was published on Friday afternoon, ending days of political wrangling between the three parties over concerns raised by the major newspaper groups.
But the revised document looks unlikely to satisfy a majority of the national newspaper publishers, who indicated that the changes offered would probably not be enough for them to create a press regulator that would be compliant with the royal charter system.
The revised charter addresses concerns raised by local and regional publishers by introducing a small administration fee for complainants who wish to use the new regulator's arbitration scheme, which aims to settle legal disputes out of court.
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/oct/11/royal-charter-press-regulation-final-draft-newspapers
