The Society of Editors is offering a 20 per cent discount off a new publication which charts the history of self-regulation of the press.

A Press Free and Responsible, by Richard Shannon, takes the readers through regulation and the Press Council, the Editors’ Code and the Press Complaints Commission.

The author Professor Emeritus of Modern History at the University of Wales, Swansea, deals with the inside story of the battles over privacy laws during the first 10 years of the PCC and analyses how the industry survived “drinking in the last chance saloon”.

It looks at the relationship between Princess Diana and the press and the unmasking of Jonathan Aitken and the delicate balance between the individual right to privacy and the need for a free press.

The book explains the need to convince the public that the press is more of a power for good than bad.