Committee publication · Correspondence · 8 September 2025
Letter, dated 30 July 2025, from Lexie Kirkconnell-Kawana, Chief Executive, Impress, with original letter from Mr Speaker, dated 21 July 2025
From: Speaker's Conference (2024)
Inquiry: Speaker’s Conference on the security of candidates, MPs and elections
Summary
Impress, the UK's independent press regulator under Royal Charter, responds to Speaker's Conference inquiries about its Standards Code enforcement regarding journalist conduct, harassment, privacy, headlines, and independent journalists. The letter clarifies that Impress requires identification and prohibits deception in newsgathering; assesses headlines for accuracy and misleading framing; holds publishers liable for commissioned journalists' breaches; and notes that voluntary regulation leaves many UK publishers unregulated.
Key findings
- Journalists must identify themselves and cannot deceive sources (e.g., posing as friends to obtain contact details); public interest may justify undercover work only if discovering significant information, not merely obtaining contact details.
- Gathering outside private residences after subjects decline comment requires exceptional public interest justification; repeated unwelcome demands for comment without public interest grounds constitute harassment under Clause 5.2.
- No requirement exists in the Code to approach story subjects for comment or make 'every' attempt; reasonableness of opportunity to respond depends on multiple factors including deadline fairness.
- Headlines must accurately represent story content; presenting claims as facts, phrasing questions without supporting evidence, or clickbait practices may breach Clauses 1.2–1.3 (Accuracy); misleading headlines are assessed by how an objective reasonable reader would interpret them.
- Publishers are responsible for breaches by commissioned independent journalists; where no contractual relationship exists, publishers may escape liability if they had no actual or constructive knowledge of misconduct, but face sanctions up to 1% turnover for serious or systematic breaches.
Tone
FactualTopics
Key actors
Lexie Kirkconnell-Kawana, Impress, Speaker's Conference, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, Independent Press Standards Organisation, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, Byline Times, Prospect Magazine, Novara Media
Notable line
“Many of the national newspapers choose to adopt the Editor's Code of Practice, which is written by newspaper editors and is far below the standards set out in the Impress Standards Code …”
Key Quotes
“… a journalist telling an MP's young son that they were a friend of the MP to get the MP's personal number be acceptable under the Impress Standards Code, and if not, could there be a public interest defence?”
“… there is no requirement under the Code that a journalist or publisher must approach the subject and there is no requirement to make 'every' attempt to get a comment from a subject, particularly not by approaching them at their private residence.”
“… if a publisher commissions an independent journalist to make inquiries on their behalf, the publisher will be responsible for any breaches of the Harassment clause committed by the journalist.”
“… a headline which does not accurately represent the story it accompanies could constitute a significant inaccuracy if it were judged likely to create a false impression for the reader.”
“… many news publishers operating in the UK elect not to abide by editorial standards or be accountable to the public through an independent oversight mechanism.”
“We are a champion for news that can be trusted. We are here to make sure news providers can publish with integrity; and the public can engage in an ever-changing media landscape with confidence.”
Source · parliament.uk record ↗