Dacre: 'Use the press card to control journalists'

Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre told the Leveson Inquiry today that the press card should be used to prove that journalists are responsible - and taken away from those guilty of malpractice.

Dacre said that at the moment the press card "didn't mean much" and was issued by 17 different organisations.

He suggested the press card could be controlled by one body and be a "kitemark" for journalists and proof they were responsible and bona fide.

Dacre proposed that the press cards would only be issued by newspapers and magazines that had signed up to the new press body and its code and that sporting and Government organisations should only give access to journalists with press cards issued under the new system.

He also said that journalists could have their cards withdrawn if they were guilty of malpractice - in the same way the GMC strikes off doctors. "It will be the newspaper industry registering and disciplining journalists, not the state," Dacre said.

Asked by Lord Justice Leveson if the proposed press card system could cover digital, Dacre answered: "In principle yes."

Dacre ended his appearance by telling Lord Justice Leveson that the inquiry was giving the public a "very bleak and one-sided view of the press."

• The NUJ is one of the leading "gatekeepers" that can issue press cards. It is unlikely to want to surrender its role to the newspaper and magazine industry as it is a major benefit of joining the union.