Building Trust in Press Regulation: Obstacles and Opportunities

Abstract

Although the question of trust in the press has been a background theme in the Leveson Inquiry, it has been overshadowed by the desire to provide practical solutions to the problem of encouraging the industry to comply with democratically acceptable objectives for journalists' behaviour and reporting. This paper argues that building trust between the press and its users is, however, a crucial pillar of political and constitutional recognition of freedom of the press. Rather than using only regulatory schemes that are basically coercive and are likely to inhibit the restoration of trust, it offers suggestions for a more positive approach to create structures that will encourage the development of public trust in the willingness of journalists to comply with expectations about high standards of reporting.