According to a report published by the Media Standards Trust, the current system of press self-regulation is not successfully protecting either the press or the public. The current system is not, the report claims, effective enough, accountable enough, or transparent enough, and does not reflect the transformed media environment. So should Britain's system of press self-regulation be over-hauled and if it is, will it do anything to restore public faith in the press?

Roger Alton is the editor of The Independent and was previously editor of the Observer from 1998 to 2007

Steven Barnett is Professor of Communications at the University of Westminster and was responsible for the research in the Media Standarts Trust report A More Accountable Press

Albert Scardino is an independent journalist and commentator for British and American news organizations. Albert spent 35 years as a journalist, including periods as a reporter and editor for The New York Times and as an executive editor for The Guardian. In 1984, he won a Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing at The Georgia Gazette, a weekly newspaper he founded with his wife, Marjorie. He was a judge for the Orwell Prize 2008.

Steve Hewlett is a writer and broadcast consultant and currently presents The Media Show on Radio 4.

Tags for this entry: journalism, journalists, media standards trust, PCC, Steve Barnett, Steve Hewlett, trust

7 Comments

Mr Michael Leapman | March 5, 2009 3:48 PM

I should like to book for this event but your new website does not seem to allow this. In fact it seems rather a mess.

Ms Marion Sossen | March 7, 2009 6:05 PM

I agree with the above writer. Cannot seem to book for this event. It used to work fine before . . . 'If it ain't broke don't fix it!'

Ms Lisa Mitchell | March 9, 2009 12:17 PM

I'm really confused!! how do you book??

Simon Robinson | March 10, 2009 9:05 AM

Why not have an RSS feed of information running through an A&E system instead of email alerts?
Will there be a podcast of the meeting?

Phil Brown | March 10, 2009 1:26 PM

Hi thanks for the comments. We realise that there are still lots of niggles with the new site and our web developers are working to fix them. For this event the problem may be that you can't see the 'book' button on the top right hand side of the page. It's in a darker grey shaded box next to the yellow rectangle box. If you hover your mouse over it you should be able to click through to the next page. It seems that the word 'book' is visible in some browsers but not in others. I've reported this to our web folks and hopefully they can sort it.
Thanks
Phil

Ms Marion Sossen replied to comment from Phil Brown | March 10, 2009 9:33 PM

Hi Phil — Frontline have my address as London, Afghanistan, I tried to change it but when I left the 'state/province' blank I got a message "errors have occured during the process of your form. Please make the following corrections: 'Your state must contain a minimum of 2 characters'. I also do not seem to be able to checkout so I have now given up. Also the first time I tried booking, I only got charged for the one ticket. The second ticket showed £0!Fine with me, but I guess not with Frontline . . . I will phone and book.

Phil Brown replied to comment from Ms Marion Sossen | March 11, 2009 4:14 PM

Yes, we're aware of the Afghanistan problem and it's been reported to our web people. If you'd like to book over the phone please call 020 7479 8950 and one of my colleagues will be able to take a card payment
thanks