THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Britain's new media regulator will "stifle" journalism and end 300 years of press freedom, The New York Times has warned.
In an editorial, the newspaper says that the draft royal charter will "create a system of government regulation" and damage democracy.
It argues that existing criminal and civil laws are sufficient to deal with phone hacking and "egregious actions" by tabloid newspapers, such as the now defunct News of the World.
The editorial says: "In an attempt to rein in its reckless tabloid newspapers, Britain's three main political parties this year agreed to impose unwieldy regulations on the news media that would chill free speech and threaten the survival of small publishers and Internet sites.
"The kind of press regulations proposed by British politicians would do more harm than good because an unfettered press is essential to democracy.
"It would be perverse if regulations enacted in response to this scandal ended up stifling the kind of hard-hitting investigative journalism that brought it to light in the first place." » | Steven Swinford | Wednesday, March 20, 2013
