Abstract
From the British Journalism Review of ten years ago (vol. 23, issue no.1, 2012)
‘The fact that practitioners are making suggestions about future self-governance seemed to give some satisfaction to Lord Justice Leveson, who said: “If the industry is taking advantage of the time that the Inquiry takes to address these concerns, nobody will be more pleased than I…that a solution has been reached that can be embraced by the industry rather than fought over for the next five years.” But he also wondered whether agreement was emerging because of a fear that “unless we get this signed up quite quickly, then this fellow called Leveson is going to come back and make it much worse for us”.’
– BJR editorial on media moves to examine regulation before the Leveson Inquiry ends with recommendations of statutory interference
‘If you stifle the way press complaints are dealt with by throwing the full panoply of bureaucracy at it, you will slow down the system, suppress the complaints, and incidentally discredit the newspaper industry. Lawyers, of course, would have a field day. I would hate a PCC Plus that operates under legalistic conditions.’
– Ian Nichol, recent retiree from the Press Complaints Commission
‘When I tell acquaintances “I study journalism at university”, I often get a reply along the lines of “Oh well, I’d better watch my phone, then”. It is said in jest, but there’s a deeper meaning to this.’
– Sam Thompson, 18-year-old journalism student at the University of Kent
‘Most of the factors holding back the Georgian news media are the same as those inhibiting media outlets in the other post-Soviet states, where it seems likely that poor training is every bit as prevalent.’
– Richard Pendry, lecturer in broadcast journalism at the University of Kent and previously a reporter in the former Soviet Union