The Future of News (Communications and Digital Committee Report)

Lord Faulks Excerpts

Friday 25th April 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Faulks (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Pack, on his excellent maiden speech. As well as having considerable content, it also had the merit of brevity, a quality much admired in your Lordships’ House. I declare an interest as the chair of IPSO, which regulates 95%, by circulation, of the printed press and its online manifestations. I also declare an interest as a lifelong news addict and an admirer of journalists. I welcome the attention that journalists and news are obtaining in your Lordships’ House today in this debate, as they did yesterday, when we were concerned with the danger that so many journalists run in doing their job. Last week, I visited Germany with my brother, a former journalist, to see the grave of my grandfather, a war correspondent for the Daily Telegraph. He was killed on the, in the last months of the war.

The importance of news has never been greater and its reliability never more in doubt. I very much agree with the conclusions of this excellent report that we are in danger of moving towards a two-tier news environment. The intrusion of tech platforms, the drop in circulation of traditional newspapers, with the consequent fall in advertising revenue, and the often chaotic nature of the 24-hour news agenda have all played their part.

Regional news has been a particular loser. I and others at IPSO visit different parts of the United Kingdom where there are regulated entities, and the picture we have obtained is discouraging. A couple of weeks ago, while visiting the south-west, I spoke to a senior local journalist who has been working on various papers there for the last 30 years. When he started, 70 people were employed by his newspaper. There are now seven. There are virtually no subeditors and papers are put together by two or three journalists. Coverage of court proceedings, of local government affairs and of local elections inevitably suffers. These are matters of constitutional significance. There is nevertheless a considerable appetite for local news, as the emergence of hyperlocals illustrates. I welcome the suggestions in this excellent report for support for the regional press. The recent endorsement of their value by the Prime Minister, His Majesty the King and the Speaker were welcome. The latter spoke of the importance of NCTJ training, knowledge of the law and of the editors’ code, which governs complaints against the press and is the standard against which IPSO regulates.

As noble Lords might imagine, I should like to say a word about regulation. The first decade of IPSO has, I believe, shown that the model of independent regulation can contribute to accountable news content. Two separate independent reviews by respected former civil servants have confirmed this.

I do not pretend that we please all the people all the time. Some complainants think we are in the pocket of the press. The newspapers take a very different view. We have been accused of being captured by the transgender lobby by one, and another has said that we are providing ground-breaking guidance on the issue.

What we do is certainly transparent. I invite a visit to our website by the curious. It may be of interest if I tell your Lordships that the majority of the complaints that we receive that are within remit are resolved in the complainant’s favour, by an upheld complaint, a mediated resolution or an acceptable correction being published.

We have, however, come across a concerning trend: something called pink slime. IPSO was approached by a network of websites that were effectively churning out Russia Today talking points while purporting to be local news sites.

I endorse what others have said about SLAPPs and about the threat of AI, but I conclude by stressing the vital importance of good journalism and good, accessible news.