State Press watchdog censures its own boss for Press attacks

THE Government-sponsored press regulator, Impress, suffered a humiliating setback yesterday after it was forced to give its boss and two board members a dressing-down for breaking impartiality rules.

The trio published dozens of vicious Twitter attacks on the Daily Mail and other publications, which displayed such bias they are no longer allowed to sit in judgment on popular newspapers.

Some of the most astonishing were from chief executive Jonathan Heawood, who accused the Mail of fascism and threw his weight behind a Left-wing campaign to stop firms from advertising in the Mail, the Sun and the Express.

In one post, he wrote that most Mail editors were ‘children in a fantasy land of their own making’ and in another he directed foul-mouthed abuse at the Mail’s editor. He also ‘liked’ a post attacking the retailer John Lewis for ‘bringing its name into disrepute by advertising in a neo-Fascist rag’.

Impress – funded almost entirely by Max

‘Compromising impartiality’

Mosley’s millions – ruled Mr Heawood had gone too far.

Some 19 of the 26 posts it examined either brought the regulator ‘into disrepute’ or ‘could be reasonably viewed as compromising Impress impartiality’.

Board members Emma Jones and Maire Messenger Davies were little better. Journalist Miss Jones ‘liked’ offensive messages linking the Mail to MP Jo Cox’s murder.

Meanwhile, Miss Messenger Davies, who teaches media studies at the University of Ulster, liked and retweeted 24 Twitter messages branding the Sun ‘duplicitous’, and calling for the ‘toxic #MailScum’ to be closed.

Impress has now banned the trio – together with a third board member, Martin Hickman – from presiding over any cases involving major newspapers. Instead, they are confined to judging small magazines and local newspapers.

It is a major blow to Impress, which has waged a campaign to be able to force the entire Press to become members. Only a few smaller publications have signed up.

IN an unsavoury farce, the Governmentsponsored Press regulator Impress – funded almost entirely by Max Mosley – has been forced to ban its own boss and two board members from regulating major newspapers. In a ruling apparently withheld from a judicial review that gave the body official recognition, it finds the trio broke impartiality rules by tweeting vicious attacks on the Mail and other papers. Could anything better illustrate the suspect nature of Impress – or the perils of venturing down the path to state control of information?