The landlord wrongly arrested for the murder of Joanna Yeates said it would be “unacceptable” for David Cameron not to adopt any recommendation from Lord Justice Leveson to introduce some form of statutory regulation.
Retired teacher Christopher Jefferies, 67, won substantial libel damages from eight newspapers following their coverage of his arrest in connection with the architect's disappearance in 2010.
He was later released without charge.
Mr Jefferies last night told ITV News: "I think that any government which simply tried to shelve taking a firm decision is going to look very, very foolish and it's going to look as if yet again they're prepared to cave in to vested interests out of fear for their own careers.
"I'm sure that I and many other people will continue to feel extremely angry unless the sort of action which I have been suggesting needs to be taken, is taken."
A poll found majority public support for statutory regulation, with 51% in favour, 20% opposed and 29% unsure.
The ComRes survey for ITV News At Ten found 48% believed the current system was insufficiently tough while 28% thought it about right.
It suggested some recovery in trust in the media since the height of the phone hacking scandal - 66% expressing a lack of trust compared with 80% in July 2011.
The proportion fearful of wider corruption among the police has also dropped from 77% to 65%.
ComRes interviewed 2,038 adults online from November 23-25.
PA
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