A Mail Online spokesperson said they were seeking “to have this egregiously erroneous classification resolved as soon as possible.”

Hacked Off’s Director Kyle Taylor responded,

“The Mail Group have good reason to be concerned, and they’re right to criticise the fact that their credibility classification is equal to RT. Because when it comes standards breaches, the Mail Group is worse!

Russia Today, which has been criticised as an engine of propaganda for the Russian Government is, like all broadcasters, regulated independently by Ofcom. If they break the rules, they face a proper investigation and meaningful sanctions. But the Mail’s titles are members of the IPSO system, which is controlled by the newspapers - so a lot of unethical conduct doesn’t even get investigated, and complaints which are accepted are often handled unfairly. Yet despite all of IPSO’s loopholes which allow misconduct to go unrecorded, Mail Group titles were still responsible for nearly 5 times as many code breach investigations than RT from 2017 to 2018.

“Ofcom has effective powers across broadcasting media, and has the ability to revoke broadcast licenses in certain cases.

“If broadcast media already has an independent press regulator, then why shouldn’t newspapers?

“UK has a rich tradition of fact-based journalism that speaks truth to power, an independent regulator would restore faith in the media and protect truthful journalism.”

ENDS

For press enquiries contact: sara@hackinginquiry.org and 07554 665 940

NOTES

Hacked Off is the campaign for a free and accountable press, and we work with the victims of press abuse to achieve those aims.