Rival press regulator Impress announces former UK pensions regulator chief Caroline Instance among appointment panel
Former UK Opra pensions regulator chief Caroline Instance has been named among the members on rival press regulator Impress’s appointment panel.
Instance joins chair Aidan White, director of the Ethical Journalism Network, who was announced as chair in July, alongside:
Ashok Gupta: Chair AA Insurance Services
Richard Gurner: A journalist who recently launched fortnightly newspaper the Caerphilly Observer
Chris Kenny: Chief executive of legal sector regulator the Legal Services Board
Tom Murdoch: Lawyer at charity firm Stone King LLP
Penny Shepherd MBE: Former chief executive of the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association, now an independent consultant
Damian Tambini: Associate professor at the London School of Economics and former head of the programme in comparative media law and policy at Oxford University
Salil Tripathi: Director of emerging issues at the Institute for Human Rights and Business
The appointment panel will pick the members for the Board of Impress, which is expected to launch officially later this year.
Chair Aidan White said: “It is now up to us to choose the Board and take another step towards establishing Impress: the Independent Monitor for the Press, a truly independent press regulator.
Jonathan Heawood, founder of Impress, added: “In keeping with Lord Justice Leveson’s recommendations, they have been transparently and openly selected.
“With their broad range of backgrounds, they will bring great expertise and insight to the process of appointing an independent and high-calibre Board of Impress.”
News of the appointment panel came as the Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso) announced to publishers that it will launch on 8 September. Most of the national newspaper titles have signed up to Ipso, which opposes the government’s Royal Charter legislation on press regulation.
If Impress Board members choose to apply for recognition under the Charter, it will become the first press regulator to comply with the government’s measures on press regulation following the Leveson Inquiry. However, so far Impress only has local publishers on board, although the Guardian and Independent titles are yet to decide how to approach the regulation question.
Earlier this month, Heawood told The Drum that Impress would “throw a spanner in the works for Ipso”, but admitted that funding the venture is a challenge.
Impress has received financial backing from high profile figures such as author JK Rowling, who doubled a £20,000 Indeigogo fundraising appeal in May.