Former Guardian investigations editor David Leigh has joined the board of Royal Charter-backed press regulator Impress.
He has won numerous awards in a 40-year journalism career, most recently a British Journalism Award in 2015 for The Guardian’s Panama Papers investigation.
He said: “I am delighted to be joining the board of Impress. Its commitment to voluntary, genuinely independent press standards has been one of the most important outcomes of the Leveson inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the press. Impress is growing as a champion of free speech coupled with decent ethics. I believe this is the way to restore trust and protect the future of honest journalism.”
Former BBC chief advisor on editorial policy Andrea Wills has also joined the Impress board.
The appointments come after Impress effectively banned three of its board members from dealing with complaints involving larger publishers over anti-press Twitter messages posted or shared by some of them.
David Leigh joins Sir Harold Evans and Nick Davies as other high-profile investigative journalists who support Impress.
Former director of communications for the Press Complaints Commission Jonathan Collett has also joined Impress as a member of its code committee. He is a former spokesperson for Michael Howard when he was Conservative Party leader and now runs his own PR firm.
Collett said: “As a keen observer of the Leveson Inquiry and a supporter of Lord Justice Leveson’s recommendations I appreciate the importance of Impress’s work as a rigorous, independent and effective arbiter of media standards in a digital age. I look forward to contributing to its work of developing and encouraging high standards of journalism, ensuring freedom of expression, and safeguarding and protecting the public.”
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