The Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso) has announced the appointment of three lay members to the editors’ code of practice committee. Here they are:
Christine Elliott, chief executive of the Institute for Turnaround and one-time director of Bletchley Park. She is said to have “experience of being involved in high profile media stories”.
David Jessel, the former BBC investigative journalist, who worked for The World At One and, most notably, the excellent and much-missed Rough Justice. He is also a member of Ipso’s complaints committee and is said to have “experience of using the code to adjudicate on complaints”.
Kate Stone, the founder of Novalia, a Cambridge-based technology company. Of her, Ipso says she has “previous experience of using the editors’ code to bring a complaint about newspaper coverage”. (Indeed, she did. In May 2014, she complained to Ipso’s predecessor, the Press Complaints Commission, about articles about her in six national titles. Her complaints were resolved).
Paul Dacre, Daily Mail editor and chairman of the editors’ code committee, said: “We welcome the appointment of these distinguished lay members, which fulfils the commitment we made in the aftermath of the Leveson inquiry to ensure the public were represented on the editors’ code committee...
“They will play a vital role in guaranteeing the editors’ code remains the standard against which all British journalism is judged”.
Ipso’s chairman, Sir Alan Moses, said: “The addition of lay members is a welcome development and I am sure the committee will benefit from the perspectives the new appointees bring”.
Lay members of the committee, defined as “people who are independent of the press”, are appointed for three years.
In case you were wondering (I know you were), the other members of the committee apart from Dacre and Moses are:
John Witherow, the Times; Geordie Greig, Mail on Sunday; Jonathan Grun, Press Association; Damian Bates, Aberdeen Press & Journal; Neil Benson, Trinity Mirror regionals; Ian Murray, Southern Evening Echo; Mike Sassi, Nottingham Evening Post; Hannah Walker, South London Press; Harriet Wilson, Conde-Nast; and Matt Tee, Ipso’s chief executive.
Comment: These three appointments appear sensible. Gradually, Ipso appears to be coming together in the way envisaged, if not by its creators, then by its chairman. It is to Moses’s credit that he has convinced his publishing paymasters of the need for changes to their planned system. He also needs extra resources.
For his part, he has accepted that the publishers will not countenance the seeking of recognition by the panel set up under the press regulation royal charter that followed the recommendations in the Leveson report.
So, despite Ipso’s advances, Hacked Off and the Media Standards Trust will not be applauding. However, I think it fair to say that their pressure, especially the detailed analysis by the latter, has contributed to a strengthening of Ipso’s independence. The entrance of lay members on the code committee is another brick in the wall.
It will be interesting to see whether those national titles that have not signed contracts to join Ipso - such as the Guardian, the Independent and the Financial Times - are encouraged enough to change their minds.
Meanwhile, the would-be alternative regulator, Impress, is still a work in progress. And the royal charter’s recognition panel, under the chairmanship of David Wolfe, continues to act as if it will, one day, have a body to recognise.
Source: Ipso