IPSO has today announced the appointment of a new CEO, Charlotte Dewar, and four new board members. Two of the newly appointed board-members, Charles Garside and Brendan McGinty, have both at some point held senior roles at IPSO-member publishers.The Daily Mail newspaper is consistently among the worst offenders for breaching the Editors’ Code, and has been responsible for thousands of incidents of press misconduct and a number of libels.Danielle Hindley, a Leeds beautician who was libellously attacked in the Mail on Sunday, said:

“Libel committed against me in the Mail on Sunday caused serious long-term damage to my business, my family and my mental health, which included significant mental health trauma. I am appalled and sickened at the thought that IPSO would appoint a former Mail assistant editor to its board. “The Mail on Sunday had plenty of opportunities prior to publication not to publish, and over 2 years post publication to do the right thing - but they never did. After my personal experience with them, nothing surprises me with IPSO. My experience proves they are not fit for purpose”.

Christopher Jefferies, a Bristol landlord who was libelled by the Mail after being wrongly associated with the murder of his tenant Joanna Yeates in 2010, said,

“Charles Garside was working for the Daily Mail when the paper libellously attacked me and tore my reputation to pieces. His appointment to IPSO sums up the complaints-handler’s contempt for the victims of press abuse, and unwillingness to stand up to the newspapers and regulate the industry effectively.”

Andy Miller, business owner who was libelled by the Mail, said:

“The Daily Mail libelled me in 2008. Ten years and umpteen courts later, I beat them and it cost them £4million. At the time, the Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Mail Paul Dacre was the Chair of the Editors’ Code Committee - a disgraceful appointment. "Now we have an ex-assistant editor of the Mail on the Board of the useless and redundant IPSO: Charles Garside, one of those Mail staff I dealt with after I was libelled. "When the Mail refused to publish that their doomed appeal to the Supreme Court had been thrown out, I complained to IPSO, who unsurprisingly sided with the Mail. This appointment shows what a sham IPSO is - in the pockets of the press, and in no way independent.”

Hacked Off Policy Director Nathan Sparkes said:

“IPSO claims that well regulated, accountable journalism is more important than ever - yet it persists with a constitution which is neither independent nor effective. “What we get instead instead of competent and robust regulation are board members with a recent history of working at a senior level at one of the highest-offending publications. “IPSO’s new CEO meanwhile is an ex-PCC staff member, which provides yet further evidence that the rebrand of the discredited PCC as IPSO was only skin-deep.”

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