CorpComms Magazine

Lionel Barber, editor of the Financial Times, issued a partial defence of the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) at today's Leveson Inquiry. 

Barber praised the PCC for being 'timely, fair, thorough', but said it 'misstepped badly' in its criticism of The Guardian's initial coverage of phone hacking at the News of the World.

Barber said the organisation has suffered from being too reliant on sitting editors. 

'For too long the PCC was dominated by insiders. Any new organisation needs experienced people in the business of journalism and not just lawyers. Any new remedy should involve bringing in outsiders... so it doesn't look like cosy stitch-up.'

Barber also called his paper's code of conduct 'a model for self-regulation'. He said the code was stricter than the PCC's and that there were severe penalties for breaching it.

Barber said the FT 'should be the gold standard in journalism'.

share me: del.icio.us | digg | reddit | Tweet