The Conservatives were the only major party not to include a commitment to independent regulation in their manifesto. However, the Prime Minister, David Cameron, has said very clearly that he supports the framework put in place to achieve ‘what Leveson wanted which is independent self-regulation by the press, but not marking its own homework, having itself checked, and only having the body checked as it were by the Charter.’
The IMPRESS Project is working towards establishing a regulator, IMPRESS, which fulfils this promise. We believe that now, more than ever, we need regulation that is independent of both newspaper publishers and politicians to protect journalism in the public interest and prevent the harm caused by poor standards of journalism.
We would like to thank everyone who has helped this project to go from strength to strength over the last year. Support for IMPRESS is increasing. We have some big plans for the future, which we will share with you over the coming months.
This is an update on IMPRESS’s recent progress:
- House of Lords finds that IMPRESS remains the only independent press regulator More info.
- House of Commons hears that IMPRESS is well on its way to establishing independent regulation for the press More info.
- The price to pay for journalism? Jonathan Heawood looks into the incendiary claims by Peter Oborne on openDemocracy and considers the serious challenges not only for the Telegraph but for all news publishers and their readers More info.
- IMPRESS celebrates the diversity of online voices at the Blogging Awards 2015 Ceremony More info.
- IMPRESS tells the Government that it is ‘implacably opposed to any measures which would unnecessarily limit the freedom of expression for journalists’ More info.
- Regulating hate speech? Jonathan Heawood speaks to the Guardian about IPSO’s approach More info.
- IMPRESS supports public interest journalism at the Independent media fair 2015 More info.
Jonathan Heawood is the Executive Director of the IMPRESS Project