A battle for the hearts, minds and pockets of small and medium-sized newspaper publishers is being fought over the new system of press regulation.The large publishing companies who created the Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso) are urging smaller publishers to sign up to their system while the victims' body, Hacked Off, is warning them against doing so.A letter sent to the company secretaries of several local and regional publishers by Hacked Off's chairman, Hugh Tomlinson, says they will face "serious disadvantages" if they join Ipso. It states that under Ipso:"You will surrender control to larger publishers, because it is structurally biased against smaller publishers.You will pay more because there is no 'polluter pays' principle. You cannot leave for six years - regardless of any rule/fee/code changes.You are more likely to be fined than well-resourced publishers as they will be better able to thwart investigations.You won't benefit from costs protection in court because you will have denied litigants the option to access arbitration."Enclosed with the letter is information about the press regulation royal charter, which Hacked Off fears may be ignored by the whole newspaper and magazine industry.In his letter Tomlinson says Ipso does not meet the standards for a self-regulator set out in the charter. He concludes by suggesting that the directors of publishing groups might like to meet him to "discuss concerns" they may have about whether or not to sign... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2013-11-26 00:00:00 UTC ]