Impress, the press regulator that is being set up as an alternative to the Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso), has appointed its inaugural board.
The six members include a former Sun staffer, Sue Evison, and two other former journalists, Máire Messenger Davies, who is now professor of media studies at Ulster university, and Deborah Arnott, who is now chief executive of the anti-smoking charity, ASH.
The other three are Iain Christie, a barrister who is secretary of the Civil Mediation Council; David Robinson, founding chief executive of the life insurance company Bright Grey; and Patrick Swaffer, president of the British Board of Film Classification.
They join Impress chair designate, Walter Merricks. He described the six as “a hugely impressive group of people” who “bring great experience in the fields of journalism, law, business development, non-profit leadership and media regulation, which will be vital to Impress as we take the organisation forward in 2015.”
Merricks and his fellow board members were nominated by the Impress appointment panel, which is chaired by the press freedom campaigner Aidan White. He spoke of having recruited “a remarkable line-up.”
Evison’s appointment is the most interesting of the six because of her tabloid experience. She was a reporter for the Sunday People before joining the Sun, where she made her mark as a writer and executive in the 1990s. She has been a freelance since 2006.
Messenger Davies worked as a journalist on regional newspapers and magazines before turning to academia. After gaining a PhD in psychology, she taught in media schools in Boston, Cardiff and London. She is the author of several books, including Television is good for your kids.
Arnott, who worked in both print and TV journalism, produced and edited current affairs programmes and documentaries for ITV and Channel 4.
Launched in December 2013, Impress has the support of leading journalists who include the former Sunday Times editor Harry Evans.
Impress believes it meets the criteria for independence as recommended in the Leveson report and as set out in the royal charter on press self-regulation. It does not necessarily mean that Impress will seek charter recognition.
The board will begin work in January 2015. But, as yet, no media organisation has agreed to be regulated by Impress.
Source: Impress
