Newspapers could face the greatest impact from proposed law changes to tighten up media regulation.
A paper from the Law Commission has suggested ways to bring controls on news publishers and broadcasters up to date with the growth of online blogs and social media.
It recommends bloggers should be given the same legal privileges as traditional news outlets, and a new independent regulator be set up to oversee their work as well as taking on the responsibilities of the Press Council and Broadcasting Standards Authority.
Media expert Donald Matheson from Canterbury University supports the move, but told TV ONE's Breakfast it may not be popular with newspapers.
"It's the law catching up with the rapidly changing world of media... The Law Commission is suggesting 'let's treat them all the same if it's news on broadcast, on newspaper or online it should be regulated all the same way," he said.
Currently newspapers are subject to less regulation than broadcast media, and websites are not answerable to anyone.
"Newspapers throughout their history have been independent and have guarded their independence fiercely," Matheson said.
"I think they will react strongly against what is quite a moderate proposal."
He said the proposed new regulator would not be as powerful as the BSA which can take broadcasters off the air and impose large fines if they're found to have breached the code.
Matheson added the new law may require bloggers to voluntarily sign up and so would be powerless to stop malicious posts, such as in a recent case where a website anonymously published the names of social workers.
Blogger Cameron Slater welcomed the review of the law but said there are probably less than 50 people in his field that it would affect.
He told Breakfast the online environment is already self-regulating to an extent.
"If I put something on my blog within minutes I've got ten people saying its wrong and everyone can see it and I can correct it immediately," he said.
"The idea (of the proposal) is to make bloggers act more responsibly but the funny thing is by getting a larger audience you actually become more responsible... this year I've tried to verify things three of four times before I put it up."
Slater and other prominent bloggers were canvassed as part of the Law Commission's work and he said he thought the commission had done a good job.
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