This essay will explore how newspapers are regulated, specifically in the texts The Daily Mirror, The Times and The Oldham Evening Chronicle News. Regulations are a set of rules that are made and maintained by a regulatory body. Regulation maintains decency taste, accuracy and appropriateness.
Initially the PCC regulated newspapers however after much debate in the aftermath of the Leveson Inquiry IPSO was created following the recommendations of the Leveson Inquiry. IPSO is made up of two boards one manages and maintains the Editor's Code of Practice and the other handles complaints and adjudicates appropriately, these are the two functions to the role of IPSO. Freedom of the press is a sign of a healthy democracy and because IPSO is partially self regulating due to newspapers joining the board this protects the freedom of free press as there is no government intervention.
An example of the Editor's Code of Practice being used in action is in The Daily Mirror on the 11th of January 2017, an article was written about NHS drip feeds being tampered with this follows clause number two, a fair opportunity to reply to any inaccuracies. Rod Harpin the medical director or North Cumbria University Hospital Trust had the opportunity to reply and made comments on these allegations. A second example of how the editor's code of practice is in action, is in The Times on the 11th of January 2017 where a Former public schoolboy used revenge porn to blackmail girls and threatened to publish explicit photos of a teenage girl on Facebook to blackmail her into having sex, this follows clause 11 victims of sexual assault, the Press must not identify victims of sexual assault. A final example of the Editor's Code of Practice being followed is in The Oldham Evening Chronicle on the 11th January 2017 where a teenage boy of the age of 15 went on a criminal damage spree in Oldham town centre this follows clause number six in the Editor's Code of Practice a child under 16 must not be interviewed or photographed on issues involving their own or another child's welfare.
The Code of Practice exists to protect the public however when it is in the public's interest the newspaper have a bit of flexibility to stretch the Code of Practice or even break certain clauses.
The second function of IPSO is to handle any complaints made by the public, an example of this is on the 23rd November 2015 in The Daily Mirror where Dr Bernard Freudenthal complained to the Independent Press Standards Organisation that The Daily Mirror breached clause one accuracy of the Editors’ Code of Practice in an article headlined “Betrayal of our babies”. The adjudication for this complaint was that the newspaper offered to post corrections online, however the Complaints Committee did not make a determination as to whether there had been any breach of the Code despite this. Another example is in on the 25th November 2015 where Muslim Engagement and Development (MEND) complained to IPSO about The Times where it was believed to have broken clause one accuracy. The outcome of this was that the complaint was upheld the newspaper then promptly published a sufficiently prominent clarification, which corrected the inaccurate impression. A further example of this is on the 14th April 2014 in The Oldham Evening Chronicle where Mr Chris Shyne made a complaint, the clauses alleged to have been contravened were clauses one accuracy, clause two opportunity to reply and clause five intrusion into grief or shock. However this complaint was handled by the PCC as there are no recent cases of complaints, the outcome of the complaint was that the PCC negotiated the publication of a letter from the complainant. The Editor's Code of Practice works well for printed newspaper however difficulties may be a problem on the online versions especially in the comments as it is not possible to regulate every single comment.
Regulation has affected newspapers, this means that newspapers are not free to print anything they like, they must abide by the Editor's Code of practice. If these regulations are not followed the newspapers may be forced to pay for damages. An example of this is the case about Christopher Jeffries where the newspaper published inaccurate information about this man destroying his reputation, this resulted in the newspapers who posted inaccurate information to pay for damages and were forced to apologies to him. Another example is the phone hacking scandal where journalists hacked into the phones of parents who's child has been murdered sending messages to the parents impersonating this child leading to the Leveson Inquiry being created. Despite all the negatives due to investigative journalism there are also positives such as revealing Jimmy Saville to be a paedophile and also revealing local MP's that have been abusing funds that were given to them to buy items such as duck houses.
This essay has explored how the newspaper industry is regulated, it has shown who regulates it and a historical overview of how IPSO was formed and has shown example cases where regulation has been followed. In the future printed newspaper will slowly become non existent and internet news will over take, this may prove to be an issue for newspapers as they can't possibly review every comment especially with the rise of online news, a new regulatory body may need to be formed to focus on online news.
Explain who regulates newspaper with a brief historical overview (PCC, Leveson Inquiry, IPSO). Explain the make up of the IPSO boards, with a comment about freedom of the press, self regulation and the relevance of this to democracy.
Explain what regulation is and why it is needed
Statement of intention, making sure that you refer to your three texts by name
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