[00:03.09]2001 [00:06.36]The government is to ban payments to witnesses [00:08.89]by newspapers seeking to buy up people involved in [00:12.62]prominent cases (1)such as the trial of Rosemary West. [00:16.86]In a significant (2)tightening of legal controls over the press, [00:20.68]Lord Irvine, the Lord Chancellor, [00:22.80]will introduce a (3)draft bill [00:24.71]that will propose making payments [00:26.53]to witnesses (4)illegal and will strictly [00:28.85]control the amount of (5)publicity [00:30.91]that can be given to a case (6)before a trial begins. [00:34.33]In a letter to Gerald Kaufman, [00:36.65]chairman of the House of Commons Media Select Committee， [00:40.09]Lord Irvine said he (7)agreed with a committee report this year [00:43.92]which said that self regulation [00:45.53]did not (8)offer sufficient control. [00:48.36](9)Publication of the letter came two days [00:50.57]after Lord Irvine caused a (10)flash of media protest [00:54.30]when he said the (11)interpretation of privacy controls [00:57.83]contained in European legislation would be left to judges [01:01.35](12)rather than to Parliament. [01:03.57]The Lord Chancellor said introduction [01:05.39]of the Human Rights Bill, [01:06.91]which (13)makes the European Convention [01:08.72]on Human Rights legally (14)binding in Britain, [01:11.26]laid down that everybody was (15)entitled to privacy [01:14.28]and that public figures could go to court to [01:16.10]protect themselves and their families. [01:18.61]"Press freedoms will be in safe hands [01:21.10](16)with our British judges," he said. [01:23.83]Witness payments became an (17)issue [01:25.49]after West was sentenced to 10 life sentences in 1995. [01:30.22]Up to 19 witnesses were (18)said to have received payments [01:33.56]for telling their stories to newspapers. [01:36.30]Concerns were raised (19)that witnesses [01:38.01]might be encouraged to exaggerate their stories [01:40.21]in court to (20)ensure guilty verdicts.

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