By Madelyn Rowley

With great power comes great responsibility, and the British press is no exception. Their abandonment of their very purpose — to serve up fair and reliable information to their readership — has created a more terrifying villain than any fictional series could possibly create.

That is precisely why the newly-released documentary Britain’s Press: Power Without Responsibility? is so effective. Directed by Rhys James and produced by Yellow Lens, this video project follows independent journalist Florence Wildblood as she interviews anonymous reporters, human rights activists, climate experts and victims of ghastly press intrusion.

The title subtly nods to 1931 Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, who accused the British press of seeking power without responsibility. Nearly 100 years later, this fast-paced and fact-based movie shines a blazing spotlight on the continued and devastating impact of unregulated reporting in the greater United Kingdom.

“We wanted to create a high calibre documentary that managed to articulate a wide range of important information without overloading the audience with too much granular detail,” said James, offering insight into the process of directing. “Having journalists, victims, whistleblowers, campaigners and members of the public tell their stories was the lifeblood of the film. We sincerely hope we have done their stories justice.”

Last week, the end result was put on display at a film premiere hosted by the campaign Hacked Off. Over a hundred representatives from newspapers, advocates for reform and charities gathered to witness the screening and participate in a panel-led discussion about the line between the freedom of the press and their obligation to report accurately and ethically.

“This all started as a 10-minute video project,” said Hacked Off CEO Nathan Sparkes at the start of the event. “Very soon it became 15 minutes. Then 20. What you’re now watching is a 35-minute documentary with over 14 hours of footage on the cutting-room floor.”

Clips from the film

In Wildblood’s first interview, she sits down with a former hacker himself, who intends to expose criminal methodologies within highly-circulated national newspapers. He is shielded with a face mask and sunglasses and his voice is technologically warped.

“[Our team] was commissioned by several newspapers to do a number of things,” he says, “anything from tracing individuals to tailing bank account information, email hacking and phone tapping.”

“Can you name the newspapers you were working with?” asks Wildblood. “Yes,” says the source. “We worked with the News of the World, the Sun, the Daily Mail and the Daily Express.”

The documentary continues with fiery attention on the impacts of saturated misinformation — with interviews from experts and activists witnessing the impacts of Islamophobia, misogyny, and climate denial. It urges its viewers to draw connections between unethical reporting and the impacts that plague our communities on a daily basis.

The film addresses the impacts of misreporting on domestic violence as Wildblood interviews Anthea Sully, the former CEO of White Ribbon — a national charity that engages men and boys in the fight against domestic violence. They discuss a slew of instances in which media headlines have grossly misrepresented the often-female victims of abuse and murder.

“Do you think the media puts women at risk with its reporting?” asks Wildblood.

“Yes, I absolutely do,” Sully says. “Men who have committed domestic homicide have looked through media examples; sometimes they’ve even had a file of stories.” These headlines reinforce the myth of men being “provoked” to murder, she explains.

Facilitated by a near-complete lack of regulation, news outlets are free to run amok with almost no regard for accuracy, ethics or the safety of their readerships and the wider public.

There is a solution to such disregard: independent regulation. Seated on the panel was a representative of Impress, the only active independent press regulator in the United Kingdom. Over 100 independent, investigative and local newspapers and magazines are registered with Impress, making a commitment to truly serve their readerships with accurate and reliably regulated information.

But the overarching issue remains: every national newspaper is still comfortably settled with IPSO, the particularly weak-fisted organisation headed by editors, politicians and outlet stakeholders themselves. In the last 10 years, the documentary informs the audience, IPSO has neither fined nor investigated a single newspaper. Presumably, such negligence will continue until a change is demanded.

IPSO is, in the words of Leveson, allowing the press to mark their own homework. It is incumbent on the Government to take the necessary steps to compel national newspapers to transition from IPSO to Impress regulation.

More insights to follow

An interactive panel with advocates for high standards in the press  followed the screening of the documentary. Emma Jones, journalist and Hacked Off Board Director, led the conversation with investigative journalist Eliz Miznon, Impress CEO Lexie Kirkconnell-Kawana and victim of press intrusion Lisa Moorish.

“Having the three sides of the press debates on the panel — a journalist, an independent regulator, and a victim of press abuse — made for such an illuminating discussion,” said Jones, remarking on the event. “They all came to the debate understanding the press justice mission and how it can be achieved.”

The four women tackled the spread of misinformation, media abuse and Impress’ ambition to regulate all national newspapers.

“Often when we discuss regulation with the press lobby, reason and solution is drowned out with age old rhetoric about ‘press freedom,’” Jones continued. “It took three women with seasoned experience and sensitive voices to show that a better, responsible press can be operated [to] benefit public life.”

A particularly striking moment of the evening occurred amid the Q&A session following the panelists’ conversation. Audience members posed inquiries that reflected a deep sense of rightfully-placed fear and anger toward a corrupt media system in their country — “Why has our Labour government done nothing to facilitate an inquiry? Why is the press permitted to churn out propaganda without restriction?”

We at Hacked Off echo their questions and concerns, turning our future attention to the expansion of the campaign, our push for independent regulation across the national press and the establishment of Leveson Part Two.

‍

With deep gratitude, we acknowledge our sponsors and donors, chiefly the Waterloo Foundation, for their contribution that facilitated the production of this documentary. Britain’s Press: Power Without Responsibility? is now available to watch on the Hacked Off website.