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Review urges IPSO to list number of complaints against newspapers

Sir Alan MosesAn external review has called for the press watchdog to publish annually the number of complaints it receives about individual newspapers.

The Independent Press Standards Organisation currently produces an annual table detailing the number of complaints against member publishers, but the review has called on it to go further.

The review was carried out by Sir Joseph Pilling, a former Whitehall mandarin, and focused on both the effectiveness and independence of IPSO.

It found the watchdog faces an “uphill task” to prove that it deserves to be trusted as an independent regulator, but found there was no evidence of decision taking being improperly influenced by the press industry.

Sir Joseph said: “In conducting this review I heard from a wide variety of people from complainants to the media. Everyone at IPSO has been scrupulous about not interfering in the review but we could have made no progress at all without a great deal of practical help.

“I hope that this report provides a useful analysis of the work that IPSO has done to date, and offers some guidance about how it can in future work to build on early promise and commitment.”

The review also found the assistance provided by IPSO staff to complainants who do not understand the system is of “high quality”, and said the public can feel “confident” that the process of appointing the IPSO board and chair is sufficiently independent of the industry.

Sir Alan Moses, pictured above left, chairman of IPSO, said: “Sir Joseph’s review is a thorough examination of IPSO’s first two years in operation and I very much welcome it and thank him for his serious and scholarly analysis.

“I am pleased that he has highlighted the important achievements IPSO has made and the high quality assistance our staff offer to the public.

“In the areas where he has suggested we could improve or do things differently, we will seek to do so if necessary and will publish a full response.”

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  • October 12, 2016 at 10:50 am
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    Seems fair enough. Hang on – what’s that noise? Ah, it’s the sound of renting of garments from the HQ of Hacked Off!
    One can only wonder if it is Hacked Off who are being referred to in the matter of “…an “uphill task” to prove that it deserves to be trusted as an independent regulator, but found there was no evidence of decision-taking being improperly influenced by the press industry.”
    Quod erat demonstrandum.

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  • October 12, 2016 at 2:36 pm
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    Can I ask whether – apart from those affected (ie the complainants) – the man in the street really cares?

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