Government promotes media freedom abroad while Cameron threatens UK press
The government has just published a release entitled "UK support for media freedom", on a recent workshop on freedom of the media.
Stephen Hickey, the British deputy ambassador, said "was an important discussion about the challenge facing media freedoms in Egypt". Some of the ideas discussed included "media independence of state control".
On Monday, Prime Minister David Cameron said that the government could act to stop newspapers publishing material leaked by Edward Snowden, saying that if newspapers "don't demonstrate some social responsibility it will be very difficult for government to stand back and not to act".
Digital policy consultant Dominique Lazanski told Morning Wire that this is an example of an ongoing contradiction, "while the UK government supports a free media abroad, it looks to clamp down on that freedom at home and that is nothing new as we have seen it in the internet website blocking debate. We need to be consistent and promote freedom of speech both at home and abroad."