2013

Significant progress was made by the newspaper and magazine industry in setting up the Independent Press Standards Organisation – the new regulator for the press called for by Lord Justice Leveson. More than 90 per cent of the national press, the vast majority of the regional press, along with major magazine publishers, signed contracts to establish IPSO. Led by Sir Hayden Phillips, the independent appointments procedures were well underway, with the regulator due to launch on 1 May 2014.

Politicians, publishers and press freedom organisations from across the globe railed against the Government’s Royal Charter for press regulation which Culture Secretary Maria Miller admitted could become redundant if IPSO was successful. The Guardian prompted heated debate over the issue of mass surveillance after publishing a series of stories based on information leaked by the US National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.

The local press was widely praised for its coverage of floods which blighted communities with Prime Minister David Cameron singling out the Eastern Daily Press in particular. Local papers created thousands of jobs distributing Regional Growth Fund cash to small businesses.