NEW Media Talk: Press standards, self-regulation and public trust – is the press accountable enough?

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.