By Gabriel Princewill-
The boss of Ipso, Charlotte Dewar, (pictured) Independent Press Standards Organisation potentially faces a conflict of interest task in relation to its review of many complaints following the overwhelming media coverage that led to the death of Dr Jason Arday.
Dewar, who has over 10 years experience of press regulation, interestingly also has an MBA from Cambridge University’s judge Business school. She sets Ipso’s strategy, and oversees its work to maintain high standards. what present affiliation she may have with the university, and how it may affect her disposition towards this investigation remains unknown.
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Although, it to some degree suffices to say that although she presides over the committee that would decide one way or another, the final decision is not expected to be made by the former researcher and veteran media heavyweight.
The pertinent question here is whether a regulator funded by the very newspaper industry it oversees can convincingly investigate allegations of serious press wrongdoing in a case like that of Arday, relating to race, and involving some of Britain’s most powerful media organisations.. Ipso has on multiple occasions called out national newspapers for inaccurate reporting; forcing them to redress a false article and apologise when necessary.
However, this matter is far more serious, and could have far reaching ramifications on any publications found to have exceeded acceptable standards of media coverage or reporting in this matter.It is hardly conceivable to inagine the regulator openly concluding that the relentless coverage of the former ex Cambridge professor, who at best had achieved a great featin being Cambridge’s youngest professor, but at worst, was a fabulist, seeking to embellish his already good CV with deceptive lies.
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IPSO says it is reviewing a “high volume” of complaints and concerns about coverage of Arday , and is reviewing the complaints. But the scale and sensitivity of the controversy have placed the organisation itself under an unusually intense spotlight.
The issue is not simply whether individual newspapers broke particular rules. It is whether the regulatory system is capable of examining a wider pattern of coverage when the allegations go beyond one inaccurate sentence, one intrusive photograph or one questionable journalistic approach.
Critics of the press have argued that Arday was subjected to an extraordinary media campaign before his death, with concerns raised about the volume, tone and sensitivity of reporting. Others have used stronger language in branding the sustained media attack as being racist.
What parameters Ipso uses to determine its outcome will be crucial. Ipso’s Editors Code Of practise Codebook calls for a balance between the rights to privacy and intrusion protected under Article 8 of the Human Rights Act 1998 and the right to expression under Article 10, in ensuring proportionate conduct in the exercise of free expression.
The legitimate question here would be whether coverage was proportionate to the overall objective, and if not, if there is a plausible defence by those who breached the acceptable standard of proportionality.
The Good Law Project, which has called for a public inquiry, has said that 249 articles appeared across 15 outlets in the 22 days before his death. IPSO has responded by saying that it is examining the complaints, and does not seek to comment further until such a time when it is ready to do so.
At the heart of the controversy lies the unusual structure of British press self-regulation. IPSO describes itself as independent, but it is not a state regulator and is ultimately financed by the publishers that belong to it. Its funding passes through the Regulatory Funding Company, which is itself funded by member publications through subscription payments.
Defenders of IPSO say its five-year budget provides certainty over its income and thereby guarantees freedom from control or influence by the publishers.They also point to independent majorities on its Board and Complaints Committee.
Those safeguards are central to IPSO’s defence. Yet they do not entirely remove the perception problem. For a member of the public looking at a case involving allegations against major newspapers, the obvious question is simple. If the newspapers pay into the system that regulates them, how can the regulator demonstrate beyond doubt that financial dependence has no bearing on its decisions?
That does not establish that IPSO is biased. There is no evidence that its funding arrangement will cause it to favour a particular newspaper in the Arday case. But independence in regulation is not merely about whether improper influence actually occurs; it is also about whether the public can see a structure that inspires confidence that it cannot occur.
That distinction could prove crucial in the Arday complaints. Since IPSO is being asked to investigate coverage involving publishers that help finance the regulatory system, it must therefore satisfy two tests simultaneously. It must conduct a rigorous investigation, and it must make the investigation visibly rigorous enough to withstand accusations of institutional conflict.
Anything perceived as a soft response could fuel allegations that self-regulation in this matter is protecting the press from meaningful accountability. Conversely, if IPSO takes particularly severe action, the newspapers involved may argue that it has allowed public pressure surrounding a tragic death, to to influence its regulatory judgement.
The regulator’s own procedures offer some safeguards. Complaints are initially assessed by IPSO staff, while unresolved cases can proceed to its Complaints Committee. IPSO says the Committee has an independent majority and that, when adjudicating, it can use only information that has been seen by both the complainant and the publication. Decisions can also be reviewed where the complainant believes that the process was flawed, with an Independent Complaints Reviewer operating separately from IPSO and publications.
But the Arday controversy raises an issue that individual complaint procedures may struggle to answer. What if the problem is systemic rather than individual? IPSO’s rules are designed principally to determine whether specific provisions of the Editors’ Code have been breached. The organisation has said it is also examining the broader issues highlighted by the complaints, which is significant.
Commentators have pointed out that a large volume of coverage, by itself, does not necessarily constitute a breach of the Code. Some of the complaints made concern alleged inaccuracies in particular articles, while others challenge the overall scale and pattern of reporting.
Battleground
That distinction could become the most important battleground. IPSO may be able to rule on whether particular stories were inaccurate, intrusive, harassing or otherwise contrary to the Code. But the public may be asking a much larger question. How so much coverage of one individual develop in such a short period, and whether the competitive pressures of modern journalism encourage newspapers to continue pursuing the story after concerns about its impact had been raised.
The other cynical but not unrealistic question in the context of this investigation is whether the sustained attack against Arday was because he was black. An objective response to such a question may require questioning the journalists of particular articles themselves, their editors, or both in relation to other comparators in this regard.
The regulator’s credibility will depend heavily on whether it is prepared to examine that question without treating each article as an isolated incident, whilst also looking at some defensible stories.
A series of individually defensible stories can potentially produce a collectively harmful campaign. Conversely, a series of stories about a public figure can also be legitimate journalism, particularly when questions of public interest are involved. The challenge for IPSO is to distinguish between vigorous journalism and conduct that crosses the boundaries established by the Code.
There is another complication. IPSO does not regulate every major British news organisation. It covers most UK newspapers and magazines but does not regulate titles including The Guardian, The Independent or the Financial Times. That fragmented landscape means that a dispute about press standards may not necessarily be resolved by one regulator examining every relevant publication under one consistent framework.
But the fact it does not regulate certain publications does not stop the regulator from commenting on relevant conduct, where it deems it pertinent to the matter as a whole. The Arday case therefore risks becoming a test not only of individual newspapers but of Britain’s entire model of press accountability. IPSO has an opportunity to demonstrate that self-regulation can work even when the allegations are politically, emotionally and institutionally difficult. But that will require more than issuing a statement promising to review complaints.
It will require transparency about what is being investigated, why particular complaints are accepted or rejected, how potential conflicts are managed and what lessons are drawn from the overall pattern of coverage.
IPSO insists that it operates independently from its members. That claim now faces perhaps its most consequential examination. The organisation does not need to prove that its funding model makes it biased; it needs to demonstrate that the model does not prevent it from being fearless when the press itself is under investigation.
The stakes extend beyond Jason Arday and the newspapers involved. A credible press regulator is essential to public confidence in journalism. If IPSO produces a rigorous and transparent investigation, it could strengthen the case for self-regulation. If its response is seen as evasive, fragmented or overly protective of publishers, the controversy will inevitably fuel demands for a different system.
The Arday complaints are therefore more than another batch of complaints entering the regulator’s system. They are a test of whether a regulator funded by the industry it oversees can convince a sceptical public that, when the most serious allegations arrive at its door, it is capable of putting the interests of accountability above the interests of the industry.
This does not necessarily mean finding against the industry, but it means conducting an assessment that is thorough and fair to all parties, including the press itself.That is the question now hanging over the organisation — and its answer could shape the future of press regulation in Britain.
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