Two prominent Scottish journalists have been appointed to the first board of the Independent Press Standards Organisation, the new regulator for the UK newspaper industry.
Charles McGhee is a former editor of both The Herald and Evening Times who now works as head of communications at Glasgow Caledonian University. He is also a former deputy editor of the Daily Record and has previously served on the Press Complaints Commission.
Charles Wilson is another former editor of the Evening Times, and of the late lamented Sunday Standard, who went on to edit the Times, Independent and the Chicago Sun Times. He was also chair of judges for the Scottish Press Awards for a number of years.
There are twelve board members under the chairmanship of appeal court judge Sir Alan Moses, and the appointments were made by an independent appointments panel headed by former senior civil servant Sir Hayden Phillips.
The new board must now appoint a chief executive and a separate complaints body before IPSO can formally take over responsibility for newspaper and magazine regulation from the Press Complaints Commission. It is expected the hand-over will take place in September.
SNS director John McLellan said: “I am delighted Scotland has such strong representation on the IPSO board. This is essential not just from the industry’s point of view but also that of the Scottish public for whose benefit the new system ultimately exists.
“Both Charles McGhee and Charles Wilson are highly respected figures and I’d like to congratulate them both on their appointments.”
Ellis Watson, chief executive of DC Thomson Publishing is the Scottish representative on the Regulatory Funding Company, which is responsible for raising the finance from IPSO members for the new organisation. IPSO is entirely funded by the newspaper industry.
The other IPSO board members are former Saudi ambassador Sir Tom Phillips, Innocent Smoothies founder Richard Reed, former Action for Children chief executive Dame Clare Tickell, vice chair of the Council and Court of the London School of Economics Anne Lapping, independent pensions expert Ros Altmann, chair of the General Consumer Council for Northern Ireland Rick Hill, former EMAP chief executive Kevin Hand, ex-Sun managing editor William Newman, and former regional newspaper editor Keith Perch
Full details of the appointments should appear on the IPSO website: http://www.ipso.co.uk/index.html#view1