More top names from national and regional newspapers have joined the list of speakers at the York conference of the Society of Editors in October.

Tim Bowdler, president of the Newspaper Society, will give the Society of Editors Lecture at the start of the conference. Tim, who is chief executive of Johnston Press, will take over as president of the Newspaper Society this month.

Les Hinton, chairman of the newspaper and magazine industry's editors' code committee will be the main speaker at the gala annual dinner.

The code committee is at the heart of self-regulation for the press and Les has guided its deliberations since the death of Sir David English. His insight into industry issues will be particularly important as self-regulation is under the spotlight again with the imminent appointment of Sir Christopher Meyer as chairman of the Press Complaints Commission, to succeed Lord Wakeham and acting chairman Robert Pinker.

The Society Lecture will be delivered in York's historic Merchant Adventurers' Hall on the evening of Sunday October 13.

The annual dinner will take place on a railway platform, in the National Railway Museum just across the tracks from the conference hotel the following day.

Society director Bob Satchwell said: "We are particularly lucky to attract speakers from the top of national and regional newspapers for the set pieces of the conference.

"In addition to their roles in their companies they have vital and influential roles in organisations that have huge impact on the key issues at the heart of the Society's lobbying and campaigning activities."

The speakers will be: John Battle, (ITN), Tim Bowdler, (Johnston Press), Simon Bradshaw, (The Argus, Brighton), Kenny Campbell, (Metro), Peter Cole, (University of Sheffield), Drew Cochrane, (Largs and Millport Weekly News), Tom Crone, (News International), David Gledhill, (Bath Chronicle), Jonathan Grun, (The Press Association), Les Hinton, (News International), Paul Horrocks, (Manchester Evening News), Tony Jaffa, (Foot Anstey Sargent), Jim Moir, (BBC Radio 2), Charles Moore, (Daily Telegraph), Peter Preston, Barrie Stephenson, (Radio York), Richard Tait, (ITN), Robert Thomson, (The Times), Hannah Walker, (South London Press), Tina Weaver, (Sunday Mirror), Chris Woodhead (former Chief Inspector of Schools) and David Yelland, (The Sun).

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