The prime minister has met newspaper editors and says he told them to act quickly to set up a new press regulator in the wake of the Leveson report.
David Cameron tweeted: "I've just spoken to newspaper editors in No.10 - telling them they need to set up an independent regulator urgently."
He told the BBC he had told the editors "the clock is ticking."
In his report last week, Lord Justice Leveson recommended an independent self-regulatory body for the press.
He said it should be backed up by legislation.
Labour and the Liberal Democrats both support statutory underpinning, but the prime minister and the majority of Conservative MPs are against it.
In Scotland, MSPs are also debating press regulation and whether to take a UK-wide approach or create a separate system.
Tuesday's meeting was organised by Culture Secretary Maria Miller.
Among editors attending were The Sun's Dominic Mohan, The Guardian's Alan Rusbridger, Peter Wright from the Mail on Sunday, the Daily Telegraph's Tony Gallagher, James Harding from The Times, Sarah Sands from the Evening Standard and The Spectator magazine's Fraser Nelson.
After leaving the meeting, Mr Cameron said the industry had to take action and added: "They have got to do it in a way that absolutely meets the requirement of Lord Justice Leveson's report.
"That means million-pound fines, proper investigation of complaints, prominent apologies, a tough independent regulatory system. And they know, because I told them, the clock is ticking for this to be sorted out."
Civil service helpPress Complaints Commission chairman Lord Hunt, who is also attending the talks, has been leading the industry's attempts to draw up a replacement for his own body.
He said he had the support of 120 publishers, representing 2,000 editors, for his plan for a new independent regulator.
"Start Quote
End Quote Chris Blackhurst Editor, The Independent"If it takes too long we will get statute."
He said newspapers could sign legally enforceable membership contracts, which would mean it was not necessary to have their agreement backed up with new legislation.
But an online petition in favour of statutory underpinning, launched by campaign group Hacked Off and supported by many victims of press intrusion, has collected more than 135,000 signatures.
Cross-party talks are ongoing and the government is drawing up draft legislation on a new press watchdog.
The BBC's political editor Nick Robinson says ministers are prepared to offer the use of the civil service to help the press establish an independent regulator.
He says some ministers hope a judge may lead the process of forming the new watchdog - "that, goes the argument, should silence those demanding legal underpinning".
'Euphoria'WHERE DO WE GO NOW?
- Lord Justice Leveson said the press needed a tough new independent regulator
- He also said the regulator should be backed up by a new law
- The Conservatives say a law will not work and could threaten a free press
- Labour and the Liberal Democrats disagree
- Lord Black and Lord Hunt have been leading the industry's attempts to draw up a replacement for the Press Complaints Commission
- Lord Justice Leveson said the Black/Hunt proposals did not go far enough
- After the Leveson report, Lord Hunt said he would be organising a meeting of the main editors and proprietors to discuss the way forward
- The PM and the culture secretary are meeting editors on Tuesday to urge them to meet most of Leveson's recommendations
Chris Blackhurst, editor of the Independent newspaper, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme he expected a very different tone from Mr Cameron than last week, when his response to the idea of legislation was greeted with "euphoria" in many newsrooms.
He said: "I expect the tenor of today's meeting will be very different. He will be saying 'you have to get your act together and if you don't you will get statute'."
Mr Blackhurst said some papers, such as the Independent, Guardian and Financial Times, thought the new press watchdog needed to be more independent of the press.
But others, such as the Telegraph Group and the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, have in the past been "four-square" behind Lord Hunt's plan, he said.
Mr Blackhurst added: "There has got to be some movement. How long it takes I don't know. If it takes too long we will get statute."
Steve Hewlett, commentator and editor of the BBC's Media Show, told Today there was "a certain amount of theatre" about Tuesday's meeting, with the prime minister anxious to show he was getting tough with newspaper editors.
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Lord Hunt: "It's a great opportunity and the industry must seize it"
But he said most editors agreed that the status quo was not viable and had agreed a lot of what Lord Justice Leveson proposed - fines of up to £1m, full-page apologies and compliance. The sticking point, however, he said, remained the independence of the watchdog.
Mr Hewlett said there was still the threat of legislation if the editors did not agree to everything Mr Cameron demanded, but he added: "The cynical view is to say the press might hold on and hold on and nothing changes. But I think that is extremely unlikely."
David Banks, former editor of the Daily Mirror, told BBC Radio Five Live most journalists had been "horrified and chagrined" by the revelations which came out during the Leveson inquiry.
He said: "It's all very well for the prime minister to be meeting national newspaper editors this lunchtime. A more important meeting will take place at the Stationers' Hall in the City tonight when the British Press Awards are handed out.
"The one talking point will be 'we have to get our house in order' but we have to do that without throwing the baby out with the bathwater, because freedom of speech as well as the freedom of the press is the issue here."
'Dark moment'In a debate in the Commons on Monday, Mrs Miller told MPs the Leveson report marked a "dark moment in the history of the British press" and there was a need for cross-party unity.
She said: "Change can either come with the support of the press or - if we are given no option - without it. Be in no doubt that if the industry doesn't respond, the government will.
"We will not accept a puppet show with the same people pulling the same strings."
She said the government had "grave concerns" about the judge's call for press regulation to be underpinned by statute, but had not ruled it out.
Labour leader Ed Miliband and Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg have voiced their support for the Leveson report, and Labour says it is drafting its own bill in case no agreement can be reached.
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