CAMPAIGNERS for press freedom criticised the government today for ditching its second half of the Leveson Inquiry.

Free Press editor Tim Gopsill said that the decision had been made by Culture Secretary Matt Hancock to protect newspaper barons responsible for the phone-hacking scandal, the vilification of minority groups and decline of the local press due to job cuts.

Mr Hancock claimed that Leveson II had been scrapped to protect media freedom on the grounds that further investigation and the implementation of section 40 of the 2013 Crime and Courts Act would damage the press and quicken the demise of the industry.