Journalists may be playing “too safe”, the head of Britain’s biggest press regulator has warned.

Matt Tee, chief executive of the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) warned of a “democratic deficit” created by cutbacks in the industry – and the rising power of public relations.

“My worry is that some people are staying too safe and that some journalism that should be happening maybe isn’t happening,” he told the Holding Power To Account investigative journalism training school at Leeds Trinity University last week.