Jack Straw says community role of regional newspapers cannot be replaced by web

Justice Secretary Jack Straw described regional newspapers as "irreplaceable" when he gave the keynote speech at the Press Gazette Media Law conference seminar today.
"Regional newspapers are irreplaceable. I don't believe that the role that they play in communities can be replaced by the web - they can be complemented by the web but they can't be replaced," he said.
Straw told the conference that the findings of the Ministry of Justice's review of the "no win, no fee" Conditional Fee Arrangements which can send costs in libel cases soaring would be published this month.
He said it was not acceptable that excessive costs should be charged in no-win no-fee libel cases where the damages awarded are small, especially at a time when regional newspapers are suffering financially.
"There's an issue here of proportionality and of looking very carefully at the way in which the CFA system has operated and whether it's leading to unjust conclusions when newspapers are being forced to settle," he said.
Straw also pledged to take a "good look" at a 160-year-old legal precedent that allows people to sue publishers for online libel without any time limit.

'No win, No fee' study finished and being considered says Ministry of Justice

A study of the controversial 'no win, no fee' arrangements in libel and other cases in England and Wales by three academics has been completed and is now being considered, the Ministry of Justice has confirmed.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “In June the Ministry of Justice commissioned a scoping study into the operation of no win, no fee. The study will provide an objective assessment of these arrangements and consider the extent to which they are meeting the access to justice needs of the public. The scoping study was completed in October and we are currently considering the report to determine the next steps”.
The 'no win, no fee' arrangements (also known as Conditional Fee Arrangements) are controversial because lawyers can charge an 'uplift' in their costs if they win, inflating the costs for the press in even simple libel cases. If the press wins they often have little likelihood of recovering their costs.
Daily Mail editor-in-chief Paul Dacre, said in his speech at the Society of Editors last month, that Justice Secretary Jack Straw would in "the next few months unveil proposals to reform CFAs" and suggested that their fees could be capped. He was scathing about their impact and highlighted a case in which the Mail on Sunday was last year ordered to pay Labour MP Martyn Jones damages of £5,000 after alleging he had sworn at a Commons official. The MoS faced a legal bill of £388,000 from the MP's lawyers plus its own costs of £136,000. Dacre said: "Today newspapers, even wealthy ones like the Mail, think long and hard before contesting actions even if they know they are in the right for fear of the ruinous financial implications. For the local press such actions are now, almost certainly, out of the question. Instead they stump up some cash to settle as quickly as possible to avoid court actions which if they were to lose could, in some cases, close them. Some justice."
The study was undertaken by three senior academics, Professors Richard Moorhead, Paul Fenn and Neil Rickman.