Are you ready for IPSO?

FROM September a new press regulator will begin operating in the UK, in the shape of IPSO.

IPSO will regulate much of the national and regional newspaper industry, with some notable exceptions, as well as the magazine sector. It will also regulate their associated websites.

Its birth is not without controversy, as it marks the industry’s rejection of the Government’s response to the Leveson Inquiry – a Royal Charter regulator. Hacked Off, the organisation representing victims of press abuses have dismissed IPSO as not Royal Charter compliant and the ‘PCC Mark 2.’

Nevertheless IPSO has appointed its new chairman, appeal court judge Sir Alan Moses, and is searching for a chief executive and members of its board.

For titles that have signed up to IPSO, despite criticisms levelled at it, there will be a very different and more exacting regime with which to comply.

Much will be familiar to titles that have signed up to IPSO. It will still use the Editors’ Code – although, as always, it can be revised as circumstance require.

It will also use the existing secretariat of the PCC, a wise move in my view as it is very efficient at responding to complainants, gathering information and putting together a file for adjudication. It takes 35 working days from complaint to adjudication at the moment, which is faster than any legal action you will ever be involved in.

IPSO, unlike the Press Complaints Commission, will be able to conduct investigations and, again, unlike its predecessor, it will be able to levy fines of up to £1m.

Such actions will only be taken where there has been a ‘systemic’ failure in regulation at a title – but what will this amount to and how is it to be avoided?

I am now running IPSO compliance training for publications that want to get ready for the new regulator.

The sessions include:

• Training staff on the Editors’ Code and its implementation with practical workshops to illustrate the latest complaints and decisions
• Training senior editorial executives in the Code and its implementation so that they can make sound decisions and give clear guidance to junior staff when tackling ethically difficult assignments
• A compliance audit to ensure the publications practices and reporting structures are robust, to avoid findings of systemic failure in regulation
• An optional service as an external independent arbitrator in disputes where internal resolution has failed to reach agreement

Publications will need to show IPSO that compliance with the Code is taken seriously and runs through their organisation from editor to junior reporter. Regular training that is independent of the title, and of IPSO itself, which I provide, can go a long way to doing that.

There are more details on the training courses page.

If you want your publication to be ready for IPSO, contact me now to discuss training at davidbanksmedialaw@gmail.com