Media reform campaigners Hacked Off have called for changes to legislation allowing punitive penalties to be levelled against the press after it emerged bloggers could also be forced to make massive payouts.
A cross-party deal on press regulation was cemented in the Commons on Monday as MPs passed measures which could see judges award exemplary damages against publications that refuse to sign up to a new watchdog.
But critics have since argued that the move devised with significant input from Hacked Off following the Leveson Inquiry could leave bloggers and “citizen journalists” who do not sign up to the regulatory system being hit by the huge awards.
Hacked Off has written to the leaders of the three major parties calling for them to table a new amendment to the Crime and Courts Bill to exclude all non-profit publishers from the changes.
The “glitch” in legislation was down to Conservative drafting of the legislation but was not deliberate, sources said.
Executive director Professor Brian Cathcart said: “We believe this is an unforeseen problem that resulted from some bad government drafting and we can see no reason why the main political parties will not take the remaining opportunity in Parliament to put it right.
“We have made suggestions for the necessary changes and understand that we are not the only ones to have done so. It is up to the politicians to act now.”