News of the World editor Colin Myler has warned privacy laws are being introduced through the back door threatening freedom of speech and "strangling the British media".
Myler, 56, was guest of honour at the Liverpool Press Club President's Annual Christmas Lunch 2008 at the Holiday Inn, Liverpool City Centre.
The event, attended by more than 160 journalists and guests, marked the 125th anniversary of the foundation of the club in 1883.
The 2008 President was veteran journalist and broadcaster Ken Bennett, who was also delighted to welcome the comedian Ken Dodd as his special guest.
Myler, who comes from Widnes, spoke of his warm memories his time in the city where he started his career as a trainee reporter on the Catholic Pictorial newspaper in 1968.
And he used the opportunity to attack the "insidious" and "shameful" privacy laws that, he says, are ''strangling British media.''
Myler told the audience: ''We are far from blameless in where we find ourselves. But the insidious way in which a privacy law is being imposed on the British Press through the back door is shameful.
"There is little or no debate through our elected MPs in Parliament, only edicts from the benches of the High Courts in London fed by Human Rights judges in Strasbourg who are, in any case, unfriendly to freedom of expression.''
He added, that after five years or so of privacy judgments handed down by Mr Justice Eady and a small number of other judges, ''the UK media finds itself in an unrecognisable place''.
He also lambasted what he called the bullying tactics that can force smaller papers to crumple under the cost of legal actions, Myler again criticised the privacy injunction threats "which fly in on a daily basis".
"Our media are being strangled by stealth" he said and spoke of the huge changes the newspaper industry faced:
Myler said: "There’s no mistaking the difficult times our industry finds itself in.
"Many young people don't feel the need or desire to buy and engage in newspapers any more.
"And the fragmentation of our business is breathtaking...there's no such thing as a newsroom any more.
"We have multi-platform hubs servicing print, podcasts, on-line, and video.
"When some of us here were learning our craft, reporters carried a pen, a notebook and, much later on, a mobile if you were lucky.
"Today it's a laptop, video camera or a mobile that fills 24/7 news bulletins with dramatic moving pictures in what has become a digital explosion.
"But despite the economic climate that is as tough as anyone can remember, I firmly believe newspapers still have a strong future.
"Some will struggle to survive. but, as an industry, we really do have to be more positive and not allow those so-called media experts and commentators to tell us how badly we are doing.
"We have to embrace the seismic changes we are going through and harness our great skills and talents to reach our audiences in the form they want to access, whether in print or digitally."
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