American journalists urge David Cameron to drop Leveson press regulation plans The CPJ's directors include senior figures from ABC News, NBC, Bloomberg, the Chicago Tribune, The New York Times, CBS News, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, the Nation, Getty Images and the Miami Herald. Under the plans, publications that refuse to be regulated could have to pay punitive damages for any mistakes. The letter says: "Those news organizations that opt out of the mechanism face the prospect of "exemplary damages," a concept that reminds us of Hungary's unpalatable media law in its potential to foster self-censorship and chill investigative journalism." It calls on Mr Cameron to look beyond Britain as it sends the "wrong message" to other, less open societies that are keen to "rein in irksome reporters." "Prime Minister, we urge you to take a step back from the current proposals, which do not take into account the implications for press freedom beyond Fleet Street," it says. Online journalists and bloggers and those outside the London-based, national newspaper establishment need to have their voices heard too. The haste with which this deal has been put together leaves too many unanswered questions. Journalists, especially those working under authoritarian regimes, are watching and hoping that their colleagues in Britain can find a better solution than regulation anchored in law. Mr. Cameron, we think that in the interests of global press freedom, you should allow them the opportunity to do so. It says statutory under-pinning is not necessarily a violation of international standards but it does "run counter to bedrock principles of a democracy." The Prime Minister agreed to a deal on press regulation last month after weeks of wrangling within the Coalition about whether to accept the Leveson Report. Victims of press intrusion, including the campaign group Hacked Off, have welcome the new laws. However, some newspaper industry figures, including Lord Black of Brentwood, executive director of Telegraph Media Group, have described the proposals as unworkable.