Paul Vickers steps down as chairman of Ipso's funding body
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Version 0 of 1. Paul Vickers has stood down as chairman of the publishers’ body that funds the Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso). In a statement posted on the News Media Association website, the former Trinity Mirror legal director is quoted as saying: “My term as chairman of the Regulatory Funding Company [RFC] was always subject to my re-election at the AGM in May. “I had indicated privately some time ago that I would not be putting myself up for re-election, as mentioned by John Whittingdale at the culture, media and sport select committee hearing on 24th February”. Vickers’s timing was interesting. It followed demands for his resignation by Hacked Off campaigners and by me. And it came a day after the high court heard allegations of phone hacking “on an industrial scale” at Trinity Mirror’s three national titles: the Daily and Sunday Mirror, and Sunday People. Even though Vickers was made redundant by Trinity Mirror in October last year - thereby ending his formal connection to the newspaper industry - he had clung on to his RFC role. In his resignation statement he said: “I believe passionately in voluntary independent self-regulation of the press. Ipso is not perfect, but it is the best chance that we have of establishing a proper system in the UK. It has the support of the vast majority of the press and has an excellent and robust chairman in Sir Alan Moses. Having devoted a huge amount of my time to setting up Ipso, I do not want my position to be used by its enemies and the enemies of a robust free press as a weapon with which to beat it. I have therefore told the board of the RFC that I have brought forward my departure date and resigned as a director and chairman with immediate effect”. He should not, of course, have remained on the RFC after his departure from Trinity Mirror five months ago. Although he was one of Ipso’s creators, and there may have been a feeling by fellow RFC board members that he should see out his term, it was a bizarre decision to allow him to stay. Adrian Jeakings, chairman of the News Media Association, the newspaper publishers’ trade body, said the industry was indebted to Vickers for his “crucial role” is establishing Ipso. “He has shown great skill and leadership as chairman of the RFC,” said Jeakings. His decision to stand down two months ahead of possible re-election in May comes a day after the high court in London heard allegations of phone hacking“on an industrial scale” at Trinity Mirror’s three national titles and serious criticism of his role by campaigning group Hacked Off. |