The Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) regulates newspapers and magazines in the UK by enforcing the Editor's Code of Practice. IPSO replaced the Press Complaints Commission after the Leveson Inquiry investigated press standards following phone hacking scandals. Newspapers need regulation to ensure accuracy, privacy, and ethical standards while also allowing press freedom critical to democracy.

1. Journalism code of ethics: the Editors’ Code of Practice and IPSO

2.  Journalism ethics and standards comprise
principles of ethics and of good practice as
applicable to the work of journalists.
 Historically and currently, this subset of
media ethics is widely known to journalists as
their professional "code of ethics".

3. While various existing codes have some
differences, most share common elements
including the principles of:
1. Truthfulness
2. Accuracy
3. Objectivity
4. Impartiality
5. Fairness
6. Public accountability

4.  Freedom of speech is a principle that supports
the freedom of an individual or a community to
articulate their opinions and ideas without fear
of government retaliation, censorship, or
sanction.
 The term "freedom of expression" is sometimes
used synonymously but includes any act of
seeking, receiving, and imparting information or
ideas, regardless of the medium used.

5.  Freedom of expression is recognized as a human right under article 19
of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and recognized
in international human rights law in the InternationalCovenant on Civil
and Political Rights (ICCPR).
 Article 19 of the UDHR states that "everyone shall have the right to
freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive
and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers,
either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any
other media of his choice".
 The version of Article 19 in the ICCPR later amends this by stating that
the exercise of these rights carries "special duties and responsibilities"
and may "therefore be subject to certain restrictions" when necessary
"[f]or respect of the rights or reputation of others" or "[f]or the
protection of national security or of public order (order public), or of
public health or morals".

6.  Freedom of speech and expression, therefore, may not be recognized as
being absolute, and common limitations to freedom of speech
relateoto libel, slander, obscenity, pornography, classified
information, copyright violation, trade secrets, food labelling, non-
disclosure agreements, the right to privacy, the right to be
forgotten, public security, and perjury.
 Justifications for such include the harm principle, proposed by John Stuart
Mill in On Liberty, which suggests that: "the only purpose for which power
can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community,
against his will, is to prevent harm to others.“
 The idea of the "offense principle" is also used in the justification of
speech limitations, describing the restriction on forms of expression
deemed offensive to society, considering factors such as extent, duration,
motives of the speaker, and ease with which it could be avoided.

7.  The Bill of Rights 1689 grants the parliamentary privilege for freedom of
speech and debates or proceedings in Parliament and is still in effect.
 United Kingdom citizens have a negative right to freedom of expression
under the common law. In 1998, the United Kingdom incorporated
the European Convention, and the guarantee of freedom of expression it
contains in Article 10, into its domestic law under the Human Rights Act.
 However, there is a broad sweep of exceptions including threatening,
abusive or insulting words or behaviour intending or likely to
cause harassment, alarm or distress or cause a breach of the
peace (which has been used to prohibit racist speech targeted at
individuals or social groups), incitement to racial hatred, incitement to
religious hatred, incitement to terrorism, treason,obscenity, indecency
including corruption of public morals and outraging public decency,
defamation, harassment, privileged communications, trade secrets,
classified material, copyright, patents, military conduct, and limitations
on commercial speech such as advertising.

8.  Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the principle that
communication and expression through various media, including printed
and electronic media, especially published materials, should be
considered a right to be exercised freely. Such freedom implies the
absence of interference from an overreaching state; its preservation may
be sought through constitutional or other legal protections.
 With respect to governmental information, any government may
distinguish which materials are public or protected from disclosure to the
public. State materials are protected due to either of two reasons:
the classification of information as sensitive, classified or secret, or the
relevance of the information to protecting the national interest. Many
governments are also subject to "sunshine laws" or freedom of
information legislation that are used to define the ambit of national
interest and enable citizens to request access to government-held
information.

9.  The United Nations' 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights states
that "everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right
shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas
of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print,
in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice".
 This philosophy is usually accompanied by legislation ensuring various
degrees of freedom of scientific research (known as scientific freedom),
publishing, and press.The depth to which these laws are entrenched in a
country's legal system can go as far down as its constitution.The concept
of freedom of speech is often covered by the same laws as freedom of
the press, thereby giving equal treatment to spoken and published
expression. Sweden was the first country in the world to adopt freedom
of the press into its constitution with the Freedom of the Press Act of
1766.

10.  The owners of newspapers can influence the editorial stance of a newspaper.The
motives and agenda of newspaper owners and editors, and how they try to
influence our understanding of certain events, is important when analysing how
newspapers tell stories. Newspapers will also attempt to influence how the public
vote in elections, with certain newspapers openly backing specific political parties.
 With this much power, it is important that newspapers stick to a code of conduct or
rules set out by independent organisations.This is known as regulation.
Press Complaints
 Sometimes it is not facts that are reported but the opinions of journalists and
editors.This is known as bias.This is one of the reasons why newspapers are subject
to regulation.
 Journalists often go to extreme lengths to find their story and news organisations are
regulated to protect people from misrepresentation, libel, slander or defamation
as well as press intrusion or harassment.
 For instance, here J K Rowling complains to the regulators about press behaviour
outside her home: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1KnI7uHr1o

11.  The Leveson inquiry was a judicial public inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the
British press following the News International phone hacking scandal, chaired by Lord Justice
Leveson, who was appointed in July 2011. It was set up by Prime Minister David Cameron to
investigate the press after journalists at The News of the World were accused of illegally
accessing the voicemail messages on other people's phones, without their knowledge or consent.
They were also accused of bribing police officers. Some of those who had their mobile phones
'hacked' in this way were celebrities, sports people and politicians.
 The News of the World was closed down by its owner, News International, when this
information became public. Lord Justice Leveson stated his recommendations on how the press
should be regulated.They were: ”Newspapers should continue to be self-regulated and government
should have no power over what newspapers publish. A new press standards organisation, with a
new code of conduct should be created by the press industry. Legislation should be provided to
ensure this new press standards organisation would be independent and effective in dealing with
public complaints.”
 As a result of this inquiry, and following the windup of the Press Complaints Commission (PCC),
which had been the main industry regulator of the press in the United Kingdom since 1990, the
Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) was established on Monday 8 September
2014.

12.  Newspaper editors must follow the rules of the Editor's
Code of Practice.
 Before the Leveson Inquiry, newspapers and their editors
were regulated by the Press Complaints Commission
(PCC).The PCC closed on 8 September 2014.
 After the Leveson Inquiry it was replaced by
the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO).
 The IPSO now investigate complaints about breaches of
the Editor's Code of Practice.

13. The Independent Press
Standards Organisation (IPSO) is
the independent regulator for the
newspaper and magazine
industry in the UK.We hold
newspapers and magazines to
account for their actions, protect
individual rights, uphold high
standards of journalism and help
to maintain freedom of
expression for the press.
The IPSO makes sure
that newspapers and
magazines follow the Editors'
Code of practice.
https://www.ipso.co.uk

17.  The most complained about newspapers in the UK
are The Sun and Daily Mail.
 The complains usually range from issues of
misrepresentation to lack of accuracy,
truthfulness and fairness.
 In the next slides you can find the last three IPSO
reports (2018-2016) with the numbers of complaints
presented against British publishers.

21. You need to prepare notes today in order to answer this next exam-style question. Read
this post carefully and plan your answer, looking carefully at your own blog to find
evidence relating toThe Daily Mail andThe Guardian newspapers.
Explain how the political context in which newspapers are produced, influences their
ownership and regulation. Refer to The Guardian and the Daily Mail newspapers you
have studied to support your answer. [10]
This question is asking you to demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of
contexts of media and their influence on media products and processes.You need to
outline your knowledge of the political contexts that newspaper editors work in and how
that might influence the kind of news products they produce.This question is focused on
press freedom and regulation.

22. Watch this CNN news clip from 2012 which covers how media owner
Rupert Murdoch was called to give evidence as part of the Leveson
Inquiry. Peter Jukes, the writer being interviewed, outlines the pressure of
protecting press freedom against the need for regulation to stop rich
individuals owning too much power in a democratic society.
Task: Answer the following questions to help you plan what you might
include in your answer. If you are struggling to answer any of them, move
on to the next one. We will come back to these in our next lesson, giving
you an opportunity to improve your answers.

23.  Explain the political significance of the concept of 'freedom of the press' and its relationship
to representative democracy.
 Why do you think freedom of the press is important?
 How much influence do you think the government should have about the things reported in
the UK press?
 How are newspapers regulated and why do you think this is necessary? Refer to an academic
idea or case of study we have studied in class.
 Find different examples of editorialised content which would not fit the concept of 'impartial'
news (e.g. social or political opinion) from The Guardian and the Daily Mail print or online
editions.

24.  How much power does the press have to shape political debate, e.g. the influence of
proprietors on politicians to support policies promoting cross-media ownership or holding
back from regulation.
 Explain the political affiliations of the two newspapers, e.g.The Daily Mail as a right
wing newspaper is partly defined by its support for the Conservative party, The Guardian as a
centre-left newspaper is partly defined by its support for Labour or the Liberal Democrats,
and how this is clear from an example you have studied.