Regulation of the media - why I like the cut of Sir Alan Moses' jib

THE Society of Editors' conference doesn't sound the most thrilling of gatherings, but in journalism circles it is one of the more interesting of get-togethers.

I found editing a newspaper quite a lonely experience - you work closely with your editorial team and other departments, as well as senior management - but you have to be very careful about who you can trust.

Getting together with fellow editors was always a cathartic experience; fellow peas in the pod who you could share war stories with, discuss important issues of the day and pinch a few ideas from too!

Now no longer part of that hallowed circle, I was pleased to be invited to this week's conference by the president of the Guild of Editors, Ian Murray - my old boss at the Southern Daily Echo. I regard Ian as one of the best in the business, and I learned a lot from him in my time as deputy editor in Southampton.

There were quite a few familiar faces to talk to at the conference. It was fascinating to hear they take on where the industry is at, and the pressures which editors are facing today. Talk about journalism sometimes being a circus, editors are now master jugglers.

Sir Alan Moses, a rather stern-looking former Appeal Court judge, delivered a keynote lecture on the opening evening of the conference about his new role as chairman of the Independent Press Standards Organisation.

He had promised the speech wouldn't be a sermon, but it most definitely was as Sir Alan talked about how "a fearless press can be a fair press"and how successful regulation of the media won't be achieved by "the manic firing of a big bazooka!

Despite the sermon, Sir Alan cut a very credible, no-nonsense figure who will do well at the head of IPSO.

He talked a lot of sense about making regulation of the media straightforward and insisted that the new regulator would "come armed with a slim, clear book of rules, and not with an iron fist" when it tackles complaints.

He added: "Mistakes and errors of judgement will always occur. But if you do so deliberately, flagrantly, without caring one jot whether you beak the code or not, Ipso will damn you."

I liked the cut of Sir Alan's jib. His strident tones won't please the critics, yet Ipso will be judged by what it is able to achieve. But I sense, with Sir Alan's hands firmly on the tiller, press regulation might be achieved through less stormy waters.


I LOATHE paperwork, and detest health and safety officialdom. The degree of anal H&S hoops you have to jump through nowadays is simply eye-watering.

Last week, I organised an afternoon out for students to a council meeting last week, and then a day later, I put together a further trip to a Royal Television Society workshop held just 20 miles down the road in Southampton. The paperwork was like preparing for an expedition to Afghanistan.

Yes, health and safety needs to be in place. I don't take my duty looking after the welfare of my students lightly. Far from it. Their safety is paramount.

But health and safety, should be appropriate, it should be measured, but a whole industry had sprung from this tick box culture, an unnecessarily so. Does anyone actually read those forms, what do they mean?

The irony of the occasion was that for the Royal Television Society trip to Southampton, the one health and safety factor I hadn't factored in was the coach failing to turn up! It had been booked, but the coach company had forgotten about us.

So I got two of the students to take their cars, along with mine, which were packed to the gunnels with journos which managed to get to Solent University on time.

I am sure I contravened a whole series of health and safety regulations, but the bottom line is that we got to the media workshop, and the students had a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon meeting senior editors and journalists from television and newspapers.


I SHARED this on my Facebook page at the weekend, but I will share this very thought-provoking comment from a colleague, who lost her mother just before Remembrance Sunday.

The 95-year-old mother of one of my shorthand teachers at Highbury College passed away on Friday. Ironically, I only discovered this by reading a posting on Facebook - how life has changed with communicating news!

I was concerned whether she would want to come into college to teach on Monday morning, but my colleague was adamant that she wanted to be in work as didn't want to let down the students.

She then sent a note to all of her students, and here is what she wrote:

It somehow seems appropriate that this is Remembrance Sunday weekend as my mother spent much of her twenties going through the Second World War. 

She had some tales to tell of these times - of the dances, the GIs, how to make-up your legs to simulate stockings ........ Life had to go on despite the bombs and constant worry over loved ones fighting.

So I feel that the best memorial I can achieve at the present time is to continue to do my bit to get you young future guardians of the democratic process into place. 

So I would appreciate it if you will help me do that by making sure it is business as usual tomorrow morning. And keep practising today.