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| Ipso: fair and open press regulation, or still dogged by Richard Desmond? | Ipso: fair and open press regulation, or still dogged by Richard Desmond? |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| FOR: Paul Vickers | FOR: Paul Vickers |
| In his report, Sir Brian Leveson called for "a body, established and organised by the industry, which would provide genuinely independent regulation of its members". We have accepted that challenge. | In his report, Sir Brian Leveson called for "a body, established and organised by the industry, which would provide genuinely independent regulation of its members". We have accepted that challenge. |
| There has been lots of misleading talk – mainly from Hacked Off – of conspiracies and kicking the ball into the long grass. Scare stories of press barons and the Tory press, of shadowy figures on shadowy bodies. | There has been lots of misleading talk – mainly from Hacked Off – of conspiracies and kicking the ball into the long grass. Scare stories of press barons and the Tory press, of shadowy figures on shadowy bodies. |
| Time for a little sunlight. To ensure that the completely new body – Ipso (the independent press standards organisation) – has the trust of the public and those it regulates, we have been insistent that every appointment is made according to public appointment principles of merit, fairness and openness. | Time for a little sunlight. To ensure that the completely new body – Ipso (the independent press standards organisation) – has the trust of the public and those it regulates, we have been insistent that every appointment is made according to public appointment principles of merit, fairness and openness. |
| Information on every post will be made freely available. All candidates will be impartially and objectively judged against published criteria. The successful candidates will have the skills, experience and qualities to best suit the role. | Information on every post will be made freely available. All candidates will be impartially and objectively judged against published criteria. The successful candidates will have the skills, experience and qualities to best suit the role. |
| All of that will take time. The structures suggested by Leveson will require the establishment of an independent appointments panel, the appointment of a chairman of IPSO, board members and a complaints committee. Each stage will need to follow the above principles. | All of that will take time. The structures suggested by Leveson will require the establishment of an independent appointments panel, the appointment of a chairman of IPSO, board members and a complaints committee. Each stage will need to follow the above principles. |
| We can't wait any longer to start the process. Sir Brian fired the starting gun eight months ago. Although we always knew it would be a marathon rather than a sprint, our critics claim we are still in the locker room when in reality we have just passed the 13 mile mark. But there are another 13 miles to go. | We can't wait any longer to start the process. Sir Brian fired the starting gun eight months ago. Although we always knew it would be a marathon rather than a sprint, our critics claim we are still in the locker room when in reality we have just passed the 13 mile mark. But there are another 13 miles to go. |
| In truth, the debate over the various royal charters was in danger of distracting us from what we were meant to be doing – setting up the new regulatory system. The royal charter isn't central or necessary to the actual functioning of that system. | In truth, the debate over the various royal charters was in danger of distracting us from what we were meant to be doing – setting up the new regulatory system. The royal charter isn't central or necessary to the actual functioning of that system. |
| To meet the Leveson requirements, Ipso will have: a majority of independent members at every level, and no industry veto on appointments; the power to impose £1m fines for serious or systemic wrongdoing; a free, fast and efficient system of handling complaints from the public; the power to require the publication of corrections and adjudications and determine their positioning; a standards and compliance arm with investigative powers to call editors to account; and an arbitration service to offer a speedy and inexpensive alternative to the libel courts, subject to the successful conclusion of a pilot scheme. | To meet the Leveson requirements, Ipso will have: a majority of independent members at every level, and no industry veto on appointments; the power to impose £1m fines for serious or systemic wrongdoing; a free, fast and efficient system of handling complaints from the public; the power to require the publication of corrections and adjudications and determine their positioning; a standards and compliance arm with investigative powers to call editors to account; and an arbitration service to offer a speedy and inexpensive alternative to the libel courts, subject to the successful conclusion of a pilot scheme. |
| There will also be a whistleblowers' hotline for journalists who feel they are being asked to do something in breach of the code, and a warning service to alert the press, and other media such as broadcasters, when members of the public make it clear that they do not wish to be the subject of their attention. All of which is at no cost to the public purse. | There will also be a whistleblowers' hotline for journalists who feel they are being asked to do something in breach of the code, and a warning service to alert the press, and other media such as broadcasters, when members of the public make it clear that they do not wish to be the subject of their attention. All of which is at no cost to the public purse. |
| So what about those press barons and their shadowy legmen? The Industry Implementation Group that I chair, which has drafted Ipso's constitutional documents, is an open group with a standing invitation to any publisher to send a representative to our meetings. A There is a core of about 20 publishers attend regularly, drawn from magazines, regional newspapers and the nationals. | So what about those press barons and their shadowy legmen? The Industry Implementation Group that I chair, which has drafted Ipso's constitutional documents, is an open group with a standing invitation to any publisher to send a representative to our meetings. A There is a core of about 20 publishers attend regularly, drawn from magazines, regional newspapers and the nationals. |
| We have had Hearst, Bauer and Condé Nast. Newsquest, Wolverhampton Express & Star and Archant. The Independent, Guardian, Financial Times and Northern & Shell. And of course News UK, the Telegraph group, Associated and Trinity Mirror. All have had an input. Over 200 publishers are now involved in our final consultation on the proposed system. Some multinational, some very local. | We have had Hearst, Bauer and Condé Nast. Newsquest, Wolverhampton Express & Star and Archant. The Independent, Guardian, Financial Times and Northern & Shell. And of course News UK, the Telegraph group, Associated and Trinity Mirror. All have had an input. Over 200 publishers are now involved in our final consultation on the proposed system. Some multinational, some very local. |
| And why me? I am one of the regional newspaper industry's representatives on the industry body that raises the funds for the Press Complaints Commission. Trinity Mirror itself is politically neutral and as a plc is owned mainly by pension funds and other institutional investors. In addition to our UK national and Scottish national titles, we publish 120 regional and local newspapers. We don't have any barons or shadows. | And why me? I am one of the regional newspaper industry's representatives on the industry body that raises the funds for the Press Complaints Commission. Trinity Mirror itself is politically neutral and as a plc is owned mainly by pension funds and other institutional investors. In addition to our UK national and Scottish national titles, we publish 120 regional and local newspapers. We don't have any barons or shadows. |
| Paul Vickers is secretary and group legal director of Trinity Mirror | |
| AGAINST: William Irwin | AGAINST: William Irwin |
| The latest proposal from the press industry to break the deadlock over setting up a replacement for the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) is the Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso). | The latest proposal from the press industry to break the deadlock over setting up a replacement for the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) is the Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso). |
| However, the Ipso proposals do not address a fundamental problem with the old PCC system. In shorthand, the Desmond Problem. So-called because Richard Desmond – the proprietor of the Express and Star titles – withdrew them from the PCC in 2011. | However, the Ipso proposals do not address a fundamental problem with the old PCC system. In shorthand, the Desmond Problem. So-called because Richard Desmond – the proprietor of the Express and Star titles – withdrew them from the PCC in 2011. |
| Desmond's withdrawal was triggered by criticism of his papers' coverage of the Madeleine McCann story. However, the context was that the proprietor was not at that stage persuaded of the value of the PCC more broadly; and felt excluded from what he saw as an old boys' club running it. | Desmond's withdrawal was triggered by criticism of his papers' coverage of the Madeleine McCann story. However, the context was that the proprietor was not at that stage persuaded of the value of the PCC more broadly; and felt excluded from what he saw as an old boys' club running it. |
| There was a second, perhaps more troubling, strand of the Desmond Problem. Baroness Buscombe, the hapless chair of the PCC when the phone-hacking scandal exploded, gave evidence to the Leveson inquiry that on more than one occasion other newspapers threatened to leave the PCC in response to an adverse ruling. She named – perhaps surprisingly – the Financial Times, Guardian and Mirror as newspapers that threatened to do so. These threats cannot but have conditioned the behaviour of a regulator which relied on maintaining relationships with newspapers in order to provide a mediation service to the public. | There was a second, perhaps more troubling, strand of the Desmond Problem. Baroness Buscombe, the hapless chair of the PCC when the phone-hacking scandal exploded, gave evidence to the Leveson inquiry that on more than one occasion other newspapers threatened to leave the PCC in response to an adverse ruling. She named – perhaps surprisingly – the Financial Times, Guardian and Mirror as newspapers that threatened to do so. These threats cannot but have conditioned the behaviour of a regulator which relied on maintaining relationships with newspapers in order to provide a mediation service to the public. |
| The third strand of the Desmond Problem is that the PCC always knew that if any major publication left that would be a serious blow to the credibility of the self-regulatory system; and so did the industry. The structural power relationship between the regulator and the regulated was, in this way, the inverse of the norm. | The third strand of the Desmond Problem is that the PCC always knew that if any major publication left that would be a serious blow to the credibility of the self-regulatory system; and so did the industry. The structural power relationship between the regulator and the regulated was, in this way, the inverse of the norm. |
| Pre-phone hacking, the standard response of the PCC whenever there was a public crisis in trust in the regulatory system was to make cosmetic reforms: to reform the industry code of practice, to introduce new "powers", to reform the constitution of the commission itself. One simple example of this can be found in the PCC's response to public concern at press behaviour following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. But there are many others. | Pre-phone hacking, the standard response of the PCC whenever there was a public crisis in trust in the regulatory system was to make cosmetic reforms: to reform the industry code of practice, to introduce new "powers", to reform the constitution of the commission itself. One simple example of this can be found in the PCC's response to public concern at press behaviour following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. But there are many others. |
| The Ipso proposals are a reiteration of this behaviour on a mega scale. They do not solve the Desmond Problem generally or any of the three strands described above in particular. It is not enough to say that at present, newspapers would be mad to leave the new system and run the risk of state regulation. The same could have been said about the PCC pre-Desmond. | The Ipso proposals are a reiteration of this behaviour on a mega scale. They do not solve the Desmond Problem generally or any of the three strands described above in particular. It is not enough to say that at present, newspapers would be mad to leave the new system and run the risk of state regulation. The same could have been said about the PCC pre-Desmond. |
| It is not enough either to say that publications will be bound by a contract. At the heart of a contract is the notion of bargaining and of mutual agreement. Contracts by their nature cannot be perpetual. It is not clear what the sanction for breach of these contracts might be. | It is not enough either to say that publications will be bound by a contract. At the heart of a contract is the notion of bargaining and of mutual agreement. Contracts by their nature cannot be perpetual. It is not clear what the sanction for breach of these contracts might be. |
| The offer of kite-marking from a properly constituted regulator, with real powers, which it is not commercially realistic for any member to leave, is an opportunity for the industry. Higher standards of conduct, greater reliability and accuracy all become distinguishing features and saleable commodities in the context of uncountable billions of unreliable words being published every day on the internet. It is noteworthy that the much more heavily regulated and better-trusted broadcasters are in nowhere near as much commercial danger. | The offer of kite-marking from a properly constituted regulator, with real powers, which it is not commercially realistic for any member to leave, is an opportunity for the industry. Higher standards of conduct, greater reliability and accuracy all become distinguishing features and saleable commodities in the context of uncountable billions of unreliable words being published every day on the internet. It is noteworthy that the much more heavily regulated and better-trusted broadcasters are in nowhere near as much commercial danger. |
| If the press as we know it is to survive at all, it is imperative that there is acceptance of universal inclusion in a new regulatory system. That means the application of statute as proposed in the Leveson report. The regulatory system cannot be conditional upon what is convenient for proprietors today. Deliverance for the press and for those they write about can only be achieved by solving the Desmond Problem; and Ipso will not do that. | If the press as we know it is to survive at all, it is imperative that there is acceptance of universal inclusion in a new regulatory system. That means the application of statute as proposed in the Leveson report. The regulatory system cannot be conditional upon what is convenient for proprietors today. Deliverance for the press and for those they write about can only be achieved by solving the Desmond Problem; and Ipso will not do that. |
| William Irwin is a barrister at Temple Gardens Chambers and provided legal assistance to counsel to the Leveson inquiry. This article has been written without reference to Lord Justice Leveson or the inquiry |