A number of national newspapers are taking "high-level legal advice" about whether to co-operate with a new press watchdog established by royal charter and backed by legislation.
The publishers of the Daily Mail, the Sun, the Times, the Telegraph, the Daily Star and the Daily Express said they would wait to make a decision.
They complain they were not represented in a meeting at which the three main political parties struck a deal.
Press reform campaigners were there.
A joint statement signed by Associated Newspapers, News International, the Telegraph Media group and Northern & Shell said: "No representative of the newspaper and magazine industry had any involvement in, or indeed any knowledge of, the cross-party talks on press regulation that took place on Sunday night.
End Quote Chris Blackwood Independent editorI think we have to recognise the mess the industry got into. I mean, the industry did some very bad things and our existing regulator just wasn't up to the task"
"We have only late this afternoon [Monday] seen the royal charter that the political parties have agreed between themselves and, more pertinently, the recognition criteria, early drafts of which contained several deeply contentious issues which have not yet been resolved with the industry."
The new regulatory regime will replace the current system, under which the press is self-regulated voluntarily through the much-criticised Press Complaints Commission (PCC).
The deal follows Lord Justice Leveson's inquiry into press ethics - called in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal.
The inquiry found that journalists had hacked thousands of phones, and called for a new independent press watchdog, backed by legislation to ensure it was doing its job properly.
Industry 'mess'Party leaders said the new independent regulator - with powers to demand upfront apologies from UK publishers and impose £1m fines - would protect victims of press intrusion and preserve press freedom.
A new piece of legislation means the charter outlining the regulator's powers can only be changed with a two-thirds majority in both houses of Parliament.
And a second new piece of law also means judges could award punitive damages against publications which refuse to sign up to a new watchdog. in the event of a court case if a complaint could have been resolved through arbitration.
The Times said in its editorial that Monday had been "a bleak episode in the story of freedom of the press in Britain" and that "the principle that a free press not subject to Parliamentary statute has been conceded".
The Newspaper Society, representing local papers, said the proposals agreed by the three parties would place "a crippling burden on the UK's 1,100 local newspapers, inhibiting freedom of speech and the freedom to publish".
That was, in part, because of the "huge financial penalties for newspapers which choose to be outside the system and an arbitration service which would open the floodgates to compensation claimants", president Adrian Jeakings said.
But Chris Blackwood, editor of the Independent, told BBC News: "We don't think it's too bad - it could have been a lot worse."
He added: "I think we have to recognise the mess the industry got into. I mean, the industry did some very bad things and our existing regulator just wasn't up to the task."
The 57-nation Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), meanwhile, warned that "a government-established regulatory body, regardless of how independent it is intended to be, could pose a threat to media freedom".
Prime Minister David Cameron said the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Labour had agreed on a new system of "tough independent self-regulation that will deliver for victims and meet the principles set out in (Leveson's) report".
He said a new system would ensure:
- upfront apologies from the press to victims
- fines of 1% of turnover for publishers, up to £1m
- a self-regulatory body with independent appointments and funding
- a robust standards code
- a free arbitration service for victims
- a speedy complaints system
The charter defines publishers as newspapers, magazines or websites containing news-related material.
But there remains confusion about who would in fact be covered by this, with Downing Street conceding it is not clear exactly which websites would be covered under the new rules.
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