Chris Elliott, outgoing Guardian readers' editor, joins Impress
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Version 0 of 1. Chris Elliott, who recently stood down as the Guardian’s readers’ editor, has joined the press regulator Impress as a consultant. He is taking on the role in addition to acting as an adviser to the Ethical Journalism Network and his chairmanship of the development charity, Concern UK. Elliott’s decision to join Impress, the regulator created as an alternative to the Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso), was greeted with “delight” by Jonathan Heawood, the Impress chief executive. Jonathan Heawood said: “We are thrilled to have such an experienced journalist join the team. Chris’s main responsibilities will be to assist and advise our existing and new members on self-regulation. “Chris is a heavyweight when it comes to ethics, media standards and press freedoms. He has been at the forefront of high profile issues at the Guardian, where... he championed for more effective and efficient working practices... and negotiated a new freelance charter leading to consistent fees, rights and intellectual property terms.” Elliott also spoke of his delight “to be helping Impress establish simple, honest and transparent systems for dealings with readers’ complaints at each of their new clients. “A willingness to face up to the fact that journalists get things wrong and deal with it is crucial in a digital age where each news organisation needs to build trust with readers if it is to survive and thrive. That belief is at the core of the values of Impress. I am very happy to be part of that.” Only 14 very small publishers have applied thus far to be regulated by Impress and all are undergoing compliance checks. By contrast, Ipso regulates the overwhelming majority of national, regional and local news and magazine publishers across the UK. The Guardian and the Financial Times have not agreed to be regulated by either Ipso or Impress. Neither have the Independent titles and the London Evening Standard. Elliott spent 12 years on regional newspapers before becoming a reporter at the Sunday Telegraph. He had stints at the Sunday Correspondent and the Times before moving to the Guardian in 1995 as a reporter and news editor. He was appointed as the paper’s managing editor in 2000, joint managing editor of the Observer and Guardian in 2008 and, in 2010, was named as the Guardian’s readers’ editor. In that capacity, he gave evidence to the Leveson inquiry. He was also a member of the Guardian News and Media (GNM) board for three years. |