IPSO publishes its 2019 Annual Report

Last month the UK’s largest press regulator, the Independent Press Standards Organisation (‘IPSO’), released its Annual Report for 2019.  IPSO was set up in 2014 in the wake of the Leveson Inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the press.  It seeks to hold newspapers and magazines to account for their actions, protect individual rights, uphold high standards of journalism and help maintain freedom of expression for the press.  It regulates over 2,600 publications, including most UK national newspapers.  There are few notable exceptions which have chosen not to take part, including The Financial Times, The Independent and The Guardian.  IPSO has been criticised in some quarters for being too closely connected with – and, in particular, funded by – the very publishers it seeks to regulate.

This latest report reveals that in 2019 IPSO received 9,766 complaints and enquiries.  Of those, it investigated 621 and ultimately upheld 55.  Reach – the largest commercial publisher in the UK, which publishes the Mirror, Express and Star newspapers – had the most complaints upheld against it (19), followed by News UK, which publishes The Times and The Sun (13).  Of the complaints that were investigated, 66 were resolved with IPSO mediation, and a further 141 otherwise resolved between the publisher and the complainant.  Of the complaints that were not investigated, the vast majority (8,891) were summarily dismissed for being outside the remit of IPSO or for not raising a possible breach of the IPSO Editors’ Code of Practice. Finally, 46 privacy notices were issued, which are notices circulated to publications to inform them that an individual does not wish to be contacted by media in respect of a particular story.