THE Gazette’s recurrent lobbying for a ‘Free Press’ status quo is becoming tiresome

One wonders whether the vacuous views supporting this general position, voiced recently by the relevant Conservative minister, could possibly have anything to do with the need to keep onside the majority Tory-supporting press in the upcoming general election?

Do the "best journalists in the world" include those serving time for phone-hacking, those on trial currently accused of making payments to public servants for inside information, and the editor who employed many of them, the ineffable Rebekah Brooks?

Sajid Javid and his party may be satisfied with the status quo but I prefer to take my cue from those innocent people mistreated by the Press and still campaigning for change through the Hacked Off movement, people like the McCanns and the falsely accused neighbour of the Bristol murder victim, retired teacher Chris Jefferies.

Your campaign consistently misrepresents the Leveson recommendations: he explicitly ruled out State control of the Press, but insisted on the need for an independent regulator to punish wrongdoing by the empires of the Press barons, who have gone unchecked for so long.

The new so-called independent regulator, Ipso, which is being set up instead of the Leveson model is not independent; it has been set up by the Press and filled with its own appointees.

Meanwhile, it seems the habitual bad practice continues, as evidenced by a recent major long-running successful libel case against the Daily Mail.

So let’s have some objective coverage of this issue, rather than your superficial self-interested pleading.

Steve Smart

Malvern

PS If you fail to publish this I’ll draw my own conclusions about the sort of ‘freedom’ of the Press supported by the Gazette.