Press regulator bans CEO for breaching its own rules
IMPRESS, the controversial new press regulator, has admitted that some of its senior board members breached its own standards by appearing to be biased against certain newspapers.
Impress was set up to act as a regulator of press standards after the Leveson inquiry into newspaper practices.
Most national newspapers rejected Impress as a form of state regulation and signed up to the Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso) instead, a voluntary independent body not backed by the Government.
The News Media Association – which represents newspaper publishers – argued in court this year that Impress’s reliance on funding from controversial sports tycoon Max Mosley undermines its independence and should render it ineligible for formal recognition.
Impress attracted support from vocal critics of the newspaper industry who argued for tougher regulation of the press. However, now an internal review of its own practices has found that three of its senior members breached its duty to act impartially and not give an impression of bias against any particular newspaper.
Most damningly of all, the review found that Jonathan Heawood, Impress’s own chief executive, had breached its guidelines and should no longer be allowed to serve on one of its most important committees.
The Press Recognition Panel (PRP), which has the power to approve new regulatory bodies, has indicated it believes there was a serious breach of one of its key principles, raising the prospect that Impress could even be stripped of its status as a regulator.
The internal inquiry was launched by Impress after complaints that Mr Heawood and other board members were promoting the views of vocal critics of certain national newspapers.
The inquiry report found that Mr Heawood and his colleagues, Emma Jones and Máire Messenger Davies, had “inappropriately” shared on Twitter material which criticised The Sun, Daily Mail and News UK, and was “disrespectful” towards named journalists.
The report states: “We conclude some of this material creates a risk that a fair-minded and informed observer, having considered the facts, would conclude that there was a real possibility of those board members being biased in relation to their Impress decision-making functions.”
Ruling that Mr Heawood should be barred from its regulatory sub-committee, the report said: “We share Mr Heawood’s own assessment that some of the posts were ill-judged and ill advised.”
The report stated that Mr Heawood, Ms Jones and Ms Messenger Davies accepted that they unintentionally breached Impress’s internal standards and agreed to adhere to a new code of conduct. It found Martin Hickman, one of the group’s founders, had complied with the guidelines in full.