THE new chair of the Press Complaints Commission is quoted saying he is “looking to Scotland to show how to re-establish public confidence in newspapers and magazines”.
Lord Hunt was quoted in yesterday’s Scotsman newspaper, following his appearance in Edinburgh on Thursday evening, at an event co-hosted by the RSA and the Faculty of Advocates – as reported on allmediascotland.
In the article, he referenced a recent initiative by the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Scotland (CIBoS) “to ensure more responsible behaviour”.
His appointment in October followed the closure of the News of the World in July, amid allegations of phone-hacking, and comes as a wide-ranging inquiry – under Lord Justice Leveson – is taking place into press standards.
The PCC was severely criticised in the wake of the phone-hacking allegations, and it is expected that Hunt, who is appearing at the Leveson Inquiry on Tuesday, will be overseeing a radical overhaul of the watchdog.
Meanwhile, yesterday, it was being widely reported that detectives investigating alleged corrupt payments to police officers had arrested four current and former employees of The Sun newspaper, raided the tabloid’s offices in Wapping and also arrested a serving police officer.
Hunt tells The Scotsman’s Bill Jamieson: “One of the issues I have been discussing with editors in Scotland is how we can take forward what is an existing and strong commitment to ethics, because I think that Scotland has a lot to teach the rest of the UK.
“CIBoS has just launched the title of Chartered Banker. This is a wholly Scottish initiative to which every bank has now subscribed.
“I warmly applaud this Scottish initiative, because I think it is a very good way of re-establishing public confidence in the banking profession, and I am also looking to Scotland to show how to re-establish public confidence in newspapers and magazines eroded by all that has happened. I’ve come to learn and hear how your editors believe this can be taken forward.”
