Hacked Off stage IPSO protest over its ‘year of failure’
Hacked Off, a campaign group pushing for greater accountability in the press, has dismissed The Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) as a ‘sham’ after it collated accounts of individuals who profess to have ‘no confidence’ in the regulator.
A protest timed to mark the body’s first anniversary will take place this morning outside the regulators London HQ, attended by ‘scores’ of those who claim that the press abuse of ordinary people is continuing and that the body does not comply with most of Leveson’s recommendations.
Amongst those to criticise the body, a successor to the Press Complaints Commission, are Christopher Jefferies (a former teacher falsely accused of murder), the Hillsborough families and the parents of Madeleine McCann.
To hammer home the message Hacked Off have collated the stories of individuals who it says have been badly treated by the national press.
These include the story of Chris Ware, a 20 year-old carpenter who was falsely accused of murdering his best friend whilst on holiday by some national newspapers. Despite this IPSO failed to investigate the case.
Commenting on these case studies Hacked Off wrote: “They all have in common that they were maltreated by national newspapers, and let down by IPSO’s response. Their stories palpably demonstrate IPSO’s serving of the newspaper industry rather than ordinary members of the public, and the effect that newspaper abuse with no means of redress has on the personal lives of those affected.”
The protest comes days after Rebecca Brooks, who was cleared of phone hacking practices while running the News of the World and the Sun, returned to run the newspaper publisher, stating that "it was a privilege to be back."