A key adviser to Lord Justice Leveson says his proposal for compulsory press regulation would be illegal because it would breach the Human Rights Act.
The judge's report recommended an independent self-regulatory body for the industry, backed up by legislation.
But Shami Chakrabarti, of civil rights group Liberty, told the Mail on Sunday she could not support such legislation.
She said the press was "being coerced in being held to higher standards than anyone else".
'Free and vibrant'Ms Chakrabarti, one of six assessors who worked on the Leveson Inquiry, said: "We were chosen as advisers because of our areas of expertise.
"Mine is human rights law and civil liberties. In a democracy, regulation of the press and imposing standards on it must be voluntary.
"A compulsory statute to regulate media ethics in the way the report suggests would violate the act, and I cannot support it.
"It would mean the press was being coerced in being held to higher standards than anyone else, and this would be unlawful."
Would:
- Create a process to "validate" the independence and effectiveness of the new self-regulation body
- Validate a new process of independent arbitration for complainants - which would benefit both the public and publishers by providing speedy resolutions
- Place a duty on government to protect the freedom of press
Would not:
- Establish a body to regulate the press directly
- Give any Parliament or government rights to interfere with what newspapers publish
Ms Chakrabarti, the director of Liberty, said Labour leader Ed Miliband had been "hasty" in declaring his full backing for the Leveson report.
Campaign group Hacked Off, which represents people who have been victims of press intrusion, has launched a petition for Lord Justice Leveson's recommendations to be carried out in full. So far it has about 90,000 signatures.
However, Ms Chakrabarti said: "I understand that people who have been wronged want action. But they should be interested in outcomes, rather than particular processes.
"The outcome they should be seeking is a free and vibrant press with access to justice for the public when things go wrong."
Labour leader Ed Miliband has said Prime Minister David Cameron must back Lord Justice Leveson's proposal by Christmas.
'Serious concerns'If Mr Cameron has not signed up by then, Mr Miliband says he will pull out of cross-party talks.
Mr Miliband told the Observer the prime minister has "one last chance to show leadership" or his party will begin rallying for a Commons vote in January, which could see Mr Cameron defeated.
He said: "We're not going to let these talks become a smoke screen for inaction and just be used as a way to run this into the ground, hoping people forget all about it, and hoping the fuss dies down.
"So in the next two to three weeks we have got to have a resolution.
"If the cross-party talks have nowhere to go and we can't reach agreement we have to go to Parliament."
The Labour leader backs Lord Justice Leveson's report, agreeing that self-regulation of the press needs to be backed by law because it has so far "failed".
Mr Cameron has indicated he has "serious concerns and misgivings" about legislation following the Leveson report.
He will attend a meeting on Tuesday with Culture Secretary Maria Miller and newspaper editors.
'Papers challenged'Mrs Miller has said the "gauntlet has been thrown down" to papers to demonstrate how they could regulate themselves without legislation.
Liberal Democrat Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg wants a new law introduced without delay.
Lord Justice Leveson's 2,000 page report into press culture, practices and ethics, published on Thursday, followed an eight-month public inquiry launched in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal.
The report said a regulatory body proposed by the press at the inquiry was insufficiently independent.
Lord Justice Leveson said the press - having failed to regulate itself in the past - must create a new and tough regulator but it had to be backed by legislation to ensure it was effective.
Press Complaints Commission chairman Lord Hunt has said the Press Complaints Commission should be replaced by another organisation within months, although the idea of legislation has been largely rejected by newspapers
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