British PM says clock ticking for newspapers to act

British Prime Minister David Cameron on Tuesday warned newspaper editors to set up a fresh watchdog quickly or face new laws after a judge-led inquiry condemned decades of misconduct by the press.

Cameron met the editors and executives at his 10 Downing Street office to push them to follow recommendations in last week's report by Lord Justice Brian Leveson to set up a new independent regulatory body.

The prime minister has previously said that he opposes Leveson's call for the regulator to be backed by legislation but he told the newspaper bosses to act soon or face the consequences.

“I've told them that they have to produce a tough, independent regulatory system rapidly, and they've got to do it in a way that it absolutely meets the requirement of Lord Justice Leveson's report,” Cameron said after the meeting.

“That means million-pound fines, proper investigation of complaints, prominent apologies.” He added: “They know, because I told them, the clock is ticking for this to be sorted out.”

Cameron commissioned the Leveson Inquiry in July 2011, after the phone-hacking scandal that led to the closure of Rupert Murdoch's News of the World tabloid and has since prompted dozens of arrests.

AFP