What to make of Sir Alan Moses after his first speech as chairman of Ipso, the new press regulator? In an urbane opening gambit, it is clear that the garlanded lawyer will be no journalists’ patsy. He tells the annual gathering of editors that Ipso is not a “self” regulator and must prove its independence through deeds not words.
The deeds look set to be those more favoured by his own profession than those typically enjoyed by journalists looking for a story. Ipso’s weapon of choice will be “reason not the boot”, he says, and it aims to come armed with a “clear book of rules” rather than an “iron fist”.
So Ipso is unlikely to rush to use the power that largely sets it apart from its much-maligned predecessor, the PCC: the ability to fine up to £1m or 1% of annual revenues. “Proper successful independent regulation will not be established by manic firing of a big bazooka,” says Moses to an industry that has sometimes seemed to be engaged in civil war in recent years.
There will be no judgment simply based on Ipso’s first big test case despite the fact that that is exactly what Ipso’s handling of the Brooks Newmark sex sting will be described as, by me as well as many others.
As for the other characteristic that most differentiates Ipso from the PCC – the ability to investigate regardless of a complaint – that will only work if the industry itself co-operates, he says.
This last goes to the heart of why the world is still watching to see whether Ipso will live up to the first part of its title, the Independent Press Standards Organisation.
Whatever wisdom Moses exudes, the means by which Ipso can investigate complaints is largely restricted to asking the newspaper involved and the complainant what happened. He knows this and admits the danger of playing against a cardsharp who keeps an ace up his sleeve. He will also have to hope that everyone involved will always fess up to the card hidden somewhere about their person.
This inability to dig deeper – whether through lack of funds or remit – means that in the Brooks Newmark sex sting, for example, Ipso could claim victory when Mark Pritchard MP settled with the Sunday Mirror and the newspaper apologised for the freelance reporter’s use of pictures of two women without their consent, a breach of the editors code of conduct. Broader questions of whether there had been a fishing expedition, are unlikely to be answered when the complaints committee next meet.
Indeed, when it comes to public interest Moses suggests “no one has defined what that means”, a view not always shared by the press.
Judge me by my fairness and find solace in it, urges Moses in a Sunday speech he refuses to call a sermon. The questions still remain whether that will be enough to satisfy those victims of press intrusion who consider Ipso a sham. Or even an industry looking to a respected and reasonable judge to remove the threat of government interference.
There is something for the whole industry to ponder in this speech. He may eschew the iron fist, but uses the velvet glove of holding an unflattering light up to its present situation. Without trust or authority, the press will be like a “woe-begone troll”, he says. And he ends by comparing a beleaguered industry to a tired old music hall performer pleading in front of his last “paltry audience”. Moses himself is keen to avoid the bar-room brawling of an industry long used to drinking in the “last chance saloon” it seems. If the tired old press is an entertainer on his last legs, Moses could be its court jester laughing at the “noise and flatulence” of the internet while hiding wisdom with his jokes.
