The International Press Institute (IPI) and other leading international press freedom groups today urged British Prime Minister David Cameron to take immediate steps to safeguard press freedom and to ensure that his government’s actions are not used to justify media restrictions elsewhere in the world.

IPI and other members of the Global Coordinating Committee of Press Freedom Organizations sent an open letter to Cameron asking him to distance himself from a parliamentary investigation into The Guardian over its disclosure of massive government surveillance by the U.K. and U.S. governments. They also urged him to refrain from commenting on the investigation in order to avoid the perception that “the process is being driven by political rather than legal concerns”.

The letter further called on Cameron to urge Parliament to repeal recent amendments to the Crime and Courts Bill and other legislation underpinning the Royal Charter. It was signed by IPI Executive Director Alison Bethel McKenzie and the leaders of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the Inter American Press Association (IAPA/SIP), the International Association of Broadcasting (AIR-IAB), the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), the World Press Freedom Committee (WPFC) and FIPP (the Worldwide Magazine Media Association).

Queen Elizabeth II granted approval to the Charter on Oct. 30 in the wake of an investigation by Lord Justice Brian Leveson into the conduct of the British press following revelations of phone hacking by the now-defunct News of the World in 2011. The decree establishes a body that would certify whether any self-regulatory entity created by press outlets conforms to Leveson’s recommendations. Press outlets that fail to join an entity certified by the body potentially face heightened penalties in defamation cases, leading many observers to argue that participation is essentially compelled, not voluntary.

Today’s letter followed a meeting by Coordinating Committee members in London last month that coincided with a WAN-IFRA-led press freedom mission to the United Kingdom. Describing the mission as an “unprecedented” step, the letter’s signers noted to Cameron recent developments in other countries that they said left them “deeply concerned that actions taken by your government will embolden autocratic leaders to restrict the media under the guise of protecting national security or improving media performance”.

Writing that “Britain’s democracy, including its robust and diverse media, has been an inspiration to people around the world who struggle to be free, and is a source of British ‘soft power’ and influence”, the signers concluded: “Your ability to exercise this kind of positive influence rests on the perception that the British media operates free of government interference. Any action that diminishes that perception not only emboldens autocratic leaders to take repressive action against the media but it erodes the ability of Britain to exercise moral suasion and to defend the rights of the world’s most vulnerable journalists.”

The full text of the letter is available here. CPJ has also posted copies in Spanish and in French on its website.

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If you have any questions or would like more information about this statement, please contact IPI Senior Press Freedom Adviser Steven M. Ellis at +43 (1) 512 9011 or email sellis[at]freemedia.at.