Media watchdog Ipso handles 3,000 complaints 3 months after launch
Media watchdog Ipso announced it has received 3,000 complaints in the first three months since it was launched.
Sir Alan Moses leads Ipso
The Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), which launched 8 September 2014, published its first set of adjudications on complaints, followed by an updated set of guidelines on Tuesday.
Ipso announced that most complaints were dealt with by member publications internally in under 28 days, before it was legally bound to step in. It also introduced a series of changes in order to make the complaints process more efficient.
Now newspapers will be required to publish the correction no less than three pages from the front. Furthermore, members should cleary display information showing readers how to file a complaint to Ipso.
Sir Alan Moses, Chairman of the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) said: “In its first three months Ipso has received nearly 3,000 complaints, many of which have been resolved between publication and complainant, showing that the new system is working well. Our complaints staff provides an efficient and sensitive voice to those who seek to complain about a breach of the standards set in the Editor’s Code.
“Now that we have agreed Ipso’s budget for 2015 and found new offices, we can start to shape Ipso’s standards function and set out to find the best means by which those who cannot afford court proceedings may seek resolution and redress from publications.”
Moses concluded: “We also expect to agree with the industry changes to Ipso’s rules and regulations that will simplify our procedures, and ensure that we can act as an effective independent regulator for the benefit of the public and the press.”
On its launch, the media regulator was branded a ‘sham’ by victims of press intrusion including Kate and Gerry McCann in September after it met only 12 of the 38 Leveson recommendations for the new body.