A More Accountable Press: Part 1

Published Monday 9th February 2009

'A More Accountable Press', a major review produced by the Media Standards Trust in consultation with a group made up of 12 leading figures from journalism and civil society, finds that the existing system of press self-regulation, as currently constituted, is unable to deal with the serious and growing threats to press standards and press freedom.

The current system, the report finds, is insufficiently effective, largely unaccountable, opaque, and failing to reflect the radically changed media environment. At a time when news organisations are under enormous competitive, technological and financial pressure, the risks of inaccuracy are increasing and concerns about privacy intrusion are growing.

Public trust in journalism, already low, may be declining further. People are bypassing the Press Complaints Commission in favour of the courts, leading to the formation of precedent-based law which could constrain press freedom.

Research commissioned by the MST for the report, conducted by YouGov, found that only 7 per cent of the public say they trust national newspapers to behave responsibly – a lower trust score even than banks. 75 per cent of people think that ‘newspapers frequently publish stories they know are inaccurate’. 70 per cent believe there are ‘far too many instances of people’s privacy being invaded by newspaper journalists’.

Six in ten people now think the government should do more to prevent national newspaper journalists from intruding on people's private lives, while almost three quarters of the public (73 per cent) would like the government to do more to ensure that newspapers correct inaccurate stories.

Martin Moore, director of the Media Standards Trust, said: “Without urgent reform we believe that self-regulation of the press will become increasingly ineffective at both protecting the public and promoting good journalism and, without prompt action, there is real danger that it will become increasingly irrelevant."

"The purpose of the MST’s review is to highlight the reasons why reform of the system is necessary,” he added.

The MST will now be looking for constructive ideas for reform. It will carry out extensive consultation over the course of this year and publish its recommendations in Part 2 of the review later in 2009.

If you would like to be involved, please email martin.moore@mediastandardstrust.org or join in the debate by leaving a comment on Martin Moore's blog.

Review Group

The members of the Review Group are, in alphabetical order: