Press needs tougher regulatory body

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Mr Hunt said newspapers must face "credible punishment" for stepping out of line, adding the Government would look "very, very carefully" at the recommendations of the Leveson Inquiry into Press standards.

Speaking to Andrew Marr on the BBC, he said any new regulatory body "must have the confidence of the public".

But he said the "elephant in the room" was technological advances which newspapers were struggling to adapt to, with increasing demands from consumers to receive their news on the move.

Any new regulatory system had to maintain a market that was attractive to international investors, he added, telling Mr Marr that Rupert Murdoch had increased choice in the market.

Mr Hunt added: "I think a consensus is emerging that there does need to be some structural changes in the way the Press is regulated.

"I think on the other side people are recognising what we value the Press for, so of course we don't want phone hacking, we don't want those practices.

"But I think people also recognise for example the News of the World exposed the cricket-fixing scandal, the Daily Mail played a very important role in bringing Stephen Lawrence's murderers to justice so I think people are recognising what we value as well."

Mr Hunt added: "I think everyone recognises we don't want the state regulating content. We have one of the most lively presses in the world, they make life for me and my colleagues extremely uncomfortable and it is part of us keeping us on the straight and narrow. So we don't want politicians to be regulating content and I think that is completely agreed.

"But on the other we need to have a tougher system, and I would like it to be an industry-led system, but it needs to be properly independent of newspaper proprietors and newspaper editors and if a newspaper is going to be punished for stepping out of line then it needs to be a credible punishment."