Letter: Journalists equal in law

It fails to notice with any conviction that it was the investigative courage of a journalist which highlighted the incompetence of the current system's ability to enforce its own laws.

The practice of journalists and their supporting institutions are rightly open to self- criticism from the press itself. However, the current self-regulatory body, the Press Complaints Commission (PCC), was not the model that held the press to account.

It was a journalist just doing his job that brought an entire industry in for questioning.

Much of the outrage felt by the public is aimed at the law-breaking journalists who hacked phones and bribed police officers.

These are already against the law and it was the failings of the police to investigate the claims made by the Guardian in 2009 that allowed the illegal practices to continue.

Journalists are already accountable for their illegal practices by laws that simply need to be properly enforced.

Press intrusion is where the philosophical debate regarding the freedom of the press breaks down.

It is easy to dismiss the extreme cases as indefensible but the majority of cases are made considerably more complicated by the lack of clarity in the unsatisfactory definition of 'in the public interest'.

Journalists must stand shoulder to shoulder with the electorate as equals who are not above the law if they are to continue to fulfil their democratic role.

However, having an independent regulator hovering over Fleet Street would limit the freedom the press enjoys within the law.

It is vital that truth-seeking journalists continue to hold their own house to account as it is the reasonability of journalists to provide checks and balances to all institutions of power and influence.

In the words of the former editor of the Sunday Times, Harry Evans: "If the press will not do this work, who else can?"

Andrew Lovatt

Market Drayton