Scotland to be exempt from new press regulation

The UK Government’s consultation on section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013, which relates to the press in England and Wales, closed this week.  If section 40 goes ahead it would mean that newspapers would pay the full costs for both sides if they were sued, even if they won the case, unless they had signed up to an “approved regulator”.

However, press regulation is devolved to Scotland and Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop has confirmed that the Scottish Government has no plans to introduce statutory measures to persuade Scottish print media to sign up to a state-approved regulator. She also warned though, that a move to enact Section 40 by the UK government could affect local and national newspapers in Scotland.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-38596575

 

Image credit: Craig Chew-Moulding CC by 2.0