“We want a vibrant free media and we particularly want that in our regional papers,” Cameron told EDP editor Peter Waters, when asked about the phone hacking scandal and if he understood the difference between the way the regional and national media operate.
“I do completely – and not only do I understand the difference between the national papers that were indulging in this practice and regional papers, but also I think your readers know very well that regional newspapers have a different agenda, a different way of doing business and a different approach,” said Cameron. “There’s a sort of calm and reasonableness to regional papers that you don’t always get from national papers.
“That’s not to say you don’t fight very strong campaigns, you do, but there’s not the same level of hysteria, if I may put it that way. And let me reassure you, I said very clearly at the liaison committee in Parliament this week, the scandal of what has happened must not be used as a sort of bone to relish for MPs to overregulate the media and get their own back for the expenses scandal. That would be completely wrong.
“We want a vibrant free media and we particularly want that in our regional papers. It’s up to Lord Justice Leveson, who will chair the inquiry, as to what he comes up with, but the sort of independent regulation that will be looked at, I don’t think that newspapers that act responsibly have got anything to fear from.”
Cameron was in Norwich, along with secretary of state for education, Michael Gove, to visit the country’s first Free School.
While in the city, he also paid a flying visit to Archant Norfolk’s head office in Norwich, where the EDP is based, under a cloak of security which meant that no-one could be told of the visit beforehand.
Reporter Kim Briscoe covered the visit and was also in the interview alongside Peter. “The vast majority of the newsroom had no idea that one of the most powerful men in the country was about to walk past their desks, and those who did only found out ten minutes beforehand. It was priceless seeing the jaws drop of even some of the most cynical hacks as he strode into the office followed by a large entourage,” she said.
Prompted by a pile of EDP front pages heralding success for campaigns such as Make It Marham, Back The Broadband Bid and dualling the final stretch of the A11 at Elveden, the prime minister said that he nonetheless couldn’t agree with the newspaper’s stance against directly-elected Police and Crime Commissioners.
Click here to read all the questions and the Prime Minister’s answers.
(Pictured top is Peter Waters, Kim Briscoe with David Cameron and Michael Gove, above Cameron meets senior EDP content editors.)
