Plans to thwack Official Secrets Acts smacked: Journo-gagging reform postponed

Proposals to reform and rewrite Britain's aged Official Secrets Acts have been postponed for at least a year, the government's Law Commission has confirmed to The Register. Campaigners and media organisations now hope that the new "journalistic ice age" threatened earlier this year may not happen after all. As proposed, the …

[Doctor Syntax]

The postponement might simply be intended to kick it down the road until May can, as she hopes, wriggle out of the ECHR and the jurisdiction of the ECJ.

[Anonymous Coward]

Fog in the channel, Europe isolated

Not surprised by this at all.

There is nothing that the Jim Hackers and Sir Humphreys of this world hate more than being shown to be irrelevant. Making a UK whistleblower a criminal is one thing but trying to impose sanctions on journalists and publications is quite another. This is the age of the internet, blogs, and encrypted emails. The Royal Writ stops at Dover and unless we can persuade our allies in Europe and around the world to respect and enforce our laws then this is pointless. But hold on, we are leaving the EU and one of the specific reasons is that we don't want anything to do with European courts.

Try to get the French courts to arrest and prosecute a journo from Libération or Le Monde for airing our dirty washing in public and see how far you get. ! I suppose we could always ask Putin to get the USA to play ball.

[John Smith 19]

" nothing less than a threat to Britain's free press and thus its democracy"."

For some very odd versions of the word "democracy."

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: " nothing less than a threat to Britain's free press and thus its democracy"."

Cue the State making a concerted effort to remove the public's perception of the free press having anything to democracy.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: " nothing less than a threat to Britain's free press and thus its democracy"."

I suppose it would matter more if we had a democracy*.

*Some poor folks live under the delusion that MPs are there to actually represent them (and even waste their time voting for them). FTR, that only happens when their interests align with their constituents, NEVER when they don't. The order of priority is:

1. Themselves

2. Themselves and their party

3. Themselves and the peasants (if they have to).

[Doctor Syntax]

Re: " nothing less than a threat to Britain's free press and thus its democracy"."

"the free press"

Free press? Just check the ownership.

[John Smith 19]

"Free press? Just check the ownership."

Exactly.

Or look at the coverage of the "Paradise Papers" and not which papers were deafeningly silent on them.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: " nothing less than a threat to Britain's free press and thus its democracy"."

There is nothing free about the press - and if anything it should include all social media platforms and be far more stringently regulated than it is presently.

We cant go whinging about russian meddling in elections and trial by media etc unless we are prepared to put some tighter controls in place...and

[jmch]

Re: " nothing less than a threat to Britain's free press and thus its democracy"."

"For some very odd versions of the word "democracy.""

"Democracy" is far more than allowing people to vote every 4 or 5 years. Without a free press, and general freedom of speech, without independent judiciary and police, without seperation of powers etc etc it's not a very good democracy

[unwarranted triumphalism]

Yawn

Journos should stick to their area of competence - cats stuck up trees - instead of stirring up shit.

[GrumpyKiwi]

We all knew that the Official Secrets Act was (as Sir Humphry put it) there to protect Officials, not Secrets.

[Anonymous Coward]

Matron!

Knobby Harris has got THAT look again!

[EnviableOne]

Government wont change untill the civil service does, and that great beast moves about as fast as your average glacier.

The reason nothing experimental comes from government is the same idiots are sitting in the background as Perminant Secrataries and the like, that still believe in 80s econmics, 70s values and sod the population