The Society of Editors' conference in York opened on Sunday evening with outgoing president Liz Page, of the Evening Press, promising a "whistle-stop tour of all the best the media has to offer".

She was speaking to more than 120 national and regional newspaper editors as well as broadcasters and representatives from the legal industry.

The week has seen a number of key speeches and workshops with topics covering witness payment issues, aspects of journalism training and comment on the media's so-called "dumbing down".

Journalists at the event also had the chance to see how the law gets in the way of their work.

Paul Horrocks, of the Manchester Evening News, highlighted two cases his paper had been involved with - where the paper was banned from publishing a picture of a Siamese twin in a public place, and where one of his journalists refused to disclose the source of a 1986 IRA bombing story in court.

He told the conference: "Privacy is not a commodity which can be sold on one person's terms."

About the alleged contempt he said: "This quickly became a hunt not for the suspected bomber but the journalist who wrote the story.

"I find it highly disturbing that a story which was without doubt in the public interest should culminate in a witch hunt."

Editor of the Muslim News, Ahmed Versi, told the conference that reporting since September 11 had reinforced stereotypes of Muslims as "terrorists, fifth columnists and traitors".

He used the platform to criticise the media, saying that there had been some positive portrayals but the negative news had resulted in "an increase of Islamophobic attacks, abuses and hate mail".

The media was, however, improving in its portrayal of disabled people, according to Margie Woodward, of Scope, who said: "There are now a lot more disabled people in the media. They are coming out of all the recesses and corners to have their say."

Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger defended the role of his 'reader's editor' - who is an independent arbitrator of reader complaints. He hailed the "faster, more localised and cleaner way", claimed the policy was a success and denied it by-passed the role of the Press Complaints Commission.

Lord Irvine's plans to outlaw payments to witnesses in criminal trials came under fire from Press Complaints Commission director Guy Black, who told his audience of editors that there had been just six cases in 50 years where the issue had arisen. In no instances was justice shown to have been at risk, he added.

Editor's Code committee consultant Ian Beales agreed, adding that current proposals for a ban were "unworkable". Media solicitor Tony Jaffa feared conditional fee agreements would leave newspapers afraid to run stories for fear of massive financial implications.

Peter Preston looked at the winners and losers in the national press and its battle for readers.

And the BBC's Barrie Stephenson spoke of how the corporation was working with the local media in partnerships - and that "local" meant what the listeners wanted it to mean, as he reviewed lessons learned in 2002.

Former Chief Inspector of Schools, Chris Woodhead, praised media reporting of the A-level scandal, and called for education secretary Estelle Morris to quit.

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