The debate has been agreed, and it is live now.

Late Edit - Well well, Labour thanking Tory, Tory thanking Labour, and Lib dems thanking everyone. Sorry Sirius, a grand day for politicians and just shows what Parliament can really do.

1.17pm GMT

The Specator's James Forsyth has posted this on Twitter.

The Press Association has just snapped this.

Prime minister David Cameron will apply for an emergency debate in the House of Commons today on the proposals for reforming press regulation, the Speaker's Office said.

The House sits at 2.30pm Parliament tv Freeview Channel 81.

& the precedent?

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Update 4 was not available when I posted. This is the latest.

Latest news

One thing bothers me with the report by the BBC if it is indeed correct.....

"UPDATE 4: 10.30am: I understand that a representative of the pressure group Hacked Off was in the room through the night when the deal on press regulation was agreed by all parties last night."

Is this a precedent being set? I hope not!

Personally, I would not be at all surprised if its that muppet Hugh Grant.....

..he's been wanting his revenge against the press since Los Angeles!

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But it seems like the younger twitter facebook crowd just likes to see a 2 paragraph in depth look.

I would say its two reasons. Firstly they are probably too busy down the pub, or given todays education levels, wouldn't understand it anyway. But playing devils advocate, they would probably reply that in their busy lives, they simply haven't got the time to read in depth reports like the Times. Telegraph, or Guardian would provide. What they want is the sort of one page executive overview that you get at the front of complicated business reports. That brief summary is enough to give them the basic facts, and they can delve into the details later if they so wish.

And it looks like the planned vote in Parliament today has been called off after an overnight agreement.

BBC News

Robinson

But it seems like the younger twitter facebook crowd just likes to see a 2 paragraph indepth look.

I think they no longer have an important quality to even care about the news. They don't care about others anymore. I'm not sure they can tell or even care about the difference between truth and fiction. It is this that will allow press censorship to grow unabated.

Graphic material in first part of the story
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/03/16/american-teens-gripped-by-epidemic-that-crushes-empathy/?intcmp=obnetwork

How could this happen? I believe American teens are in the grips of a psychological epidemic that has eroded much of their capacity to connect with genuine emotion and is, therefore, crushing their empathy.

Having watched tens of thousands of YouTube videos with bizarre scenarios unfolding, having Tweeted thousands of senseless missives of no real importance, having watched contrived “Reality TV” programs in which people are posers in false dramas about love or lust or revenge, having texted millions of times, rather than truly connecting and having lost their real faces to the fake life stories of Facebook, they look upon the actual events of their lives with no more actual investment and actual concern and actual courage than they would look upon a fictional character in a movie.

They are absent from their own lives and those of others. They are floating free in a virtual world where nothing really matters other than being cool observers of their own detached existence, occasionally alighting on one another’s bodies, in sexual embraces that remind them—for an orgasmic moment—that they are actually alive and actually human.

The psychological epidemic dissolves courage and compassion and is the most virulent and dangerous one our culture and the world has ever faced. It could ruin us.

What was once referred to as “the bystander effect”—a psychological phenomenon in which individuals in a crowd tend not to step forward to save a victim, is now an apt label for a large percentage of teens. They are bystanders in their own lives. They are bystanders to the lives of others. And just as they may stand by as a “friend” of theirs is brutally sexually assaulted, humiliated and degraded, they could stand by as forces of darkness gather to confront the American ideals of liberty and justice.

Dr. Keith Ablow is a psychiatrist and member of the Fox News Medical A-Team. Dr. Ablow can be reached at info@keithablow.com

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Yep, we should have a law controlling the press....

...stating that they must understand English, do their research properly & also ensure that they can proofread their copy.....

Surviving Dambuster reveals how he celebrated - with a cup of tea!

"The Sorpe dam was badly damaged by the daring night-time raid, orchestrated by wing commander Guy Gibson and bouncing bomb inventor Barnes Wallace".....

..that's Barnes Wallis you Dimwit....

"It was only when they flew back to RAF Scrapton in Lincolnshire.".....

That's R.A.F. Scampton you scallywag!

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The nationals are still going strong, but many of the locals have closed down or merged.

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I have to ask you who live in the UK and Europe if you have seen newspapers closing down?

Here in the states a lot of newspapers have shut down and in my own city we have had one shut down a few years ago and now the last one only prints a hardcopy 3 times a week. They do have a website but I dont like readin a whole paper online. and that is a watered down version to boot. When I read a paper I just dont want the local, regional or state news. I want the whole world picture. I like knowing what is going on in the rest of the US and the world.

But it seems like the younger twitter facebook crowd just likes to see a 2 paragraph indepth look.

edit- and if this is off topic just redX it and It will be gone.

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[/quote]

Old James

Private Eye contributor here...

& politicians are?

Don't be so naive!

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The press would not have a veto over the members of the regulator under the Lib Dem/Labour plan, and it is designed to prevent it from being watered down or strengthened by future governments.

Gerry McCann, the father of missing Madeleine McCann, said it was essential that the regulator was backed by legislation. "Lord Justice Leveson was absolutely clear on this. He said that statutory underpinning was essential," he told BBC News.

Don't wont any politicians having any direct control over the press.
Else we will end up like France where mistermeaners by M.P's get hushed up.

I don't think that Britain would go along with the French way of hushing up misdemeanors. The French have to, else 95% of them would have to resign! We await to see what Monday brings. The press only have themselves to blame, investigative journalism is one thing, and when used properly as in the case of MP's expenses, it is the right thing to do. The phone hacking in the Milly Dowler case and others, was just despicable, and has to be prevented from happening again. The press clearly cannot be trusted to do that themselves, hence they have to be prevented by law. That does not mean politicians having day to day control, nor of course should it.

Don't wont any politicians having any direct control over the press.
Else we will end up like France where mistermeaners by M.P's get hushed up.
God knows what kind of Huhneite antics politicians will get up to that we
would never get to know about.

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The Kite Fliers

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Kite fliers: An imaginary club of solo members, those who don't yet
belong to a formal team so "fly their own kites" - as the saying goes.

I understand where you are coming from John, but £100M is too draconian, and I think legislation including that sort of penalty would actually harm a free press. Newspapers should be in the business of reporting news in the "public interest" NOT their OWN vested interests, whether they be financial or political. We all know that in a recession there are circulation wars, and shock-horror headlines sell copy, we also know that some papers want changes in government and will go to incredible depths to mud sling.

PM Cameron says that to much legal restraint would harm press freedom, whereas Labour and Lib Dem argue that there needs to be more than what there is at present. Parliament will vote on the issue on Monday, and it is by no means sure which side will win. I have already said the smart money is on a Lib Dem/Labour coalition, and you are now seeing the first stages of it.

This issue of Press Freedom is a fundamentally serious matter, and it is certainly not a matter for levity, as apparently seen by some, who appear to be wannabe Private Eye contributors.

I certainly think Cameron is off his chump on this one, and the legislative underpinning recommended should be implemented.

The £1 million fine limit should also be changed to £100 million. Such a fine would bankrupt a newspaper, and might frighten them in to behaving properly.

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It's good to be back amongst friends and colleagues

http://www.petapixel.com/2013/03/15/vice-presidents-press-office-apologizes-for-forcing-reporter-to-delete-photos/

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Perhaps if more British newspapers were British owned we wouldn't be having this problem ....

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Press Freedom post Levenson

Of course we all want a free press, but one that is self disciplined enough to act within the law and the bounds of decency. In recent years they have sadly shown shown that they are unable to do that on their own, therefore some sort of legislation has to be brought in. The question now is, what kind, and how far reaching should it be.

Perhaps if more British newspapers were British owned we wouldn't be having this problem ....