Letter: Press and privacy

Sir: What better way to illustrate the dangers of a privacy code than the publication by The Independent of a private meeting by leading Tories at a restaurant. ("A better code, now make it work", 26 September)? Andrew Marr is uncertain as to whether Lord Wakeham, chairman of the Press Complaints Commission, would deem this in the public interest, since the new code considers restaurants private arenas.

Are editors going to let Lord Wakeham become their new editor-in-chief? It used to be said that a free press included the right of journalists to print their views free from interference, the right of editors to offer diverse viewpoints, and the right of readers to decide what they wanted to read about.

TESSA MAYES

The Freedom and Privacy Project

London WC1