The i newspaper has signed up to press regulator IPSO.
The move means that The Guardian, Observer and the Financial Times are the only print UK national newspaper titles which have not joined any system of press regulation. The London Evening Standard has also yet to sign up to any regulator. Instead, these titles deal with all complaints internally.
As part of Johnston Press, membership of IPSO brings i into line with the other titles in the group.
Writing in the paper i editor Oliver Duff said: “If we mess up something, you or any member of the public can write to IPSO seeking redress. IPSO has teeth, investigating our reporting on behalf of complainants to determine resolutions, compelling corrections, and has the power to fine publishers up to £1m for systemic failures.”
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Guardian News and Media has yet to shut the door completely on joining either IPSO or Royal Charter-backed alternative regulator Impress.
Setting out IPSO’s failings he said: “Despite its supporters continually claiming that it has the capability to levy fines, the chances of it happening are remote. Similarly, no-one believes its whistleblowing hotline, enabling journalists to report unethical demands by their editors, will ever be used.
“Worse, it has not really come to terms with the necessity of offering low-cost arbitration, having taken until July this year to introduce only a pilot scheme. Similarly, the standards arm has hardly been pro-active.”
He also said there is a perception that IPSO’s complaints panel lacks independence: “You may well argue that the Guardian’s self-regulation system, administered by an independent readers’ editor with an appeals panel back-up, is similarly compromised. But the Guardian did not indulge in the practices that resulted in Leveson.”
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