When the Press Complaints Commission was set up in 1991, British journalism was at an all-time low. In a democracy the media must be free but competition between tabloids had produced a press notorious for intrusiveness, tastelessness, inaccuracy, callous methods and chequebook journalism. The only curb was the old Press Council, funded by the industry itself and widely seen as a watchdog with false teeth. Some more forceful body was clearly needed;...