The newly appointed chairman of the Independent Press Standards Organisation, Sir Alan Moses, is to make his first public appearance in his new role at a debate in Edinburgh later this month.
The event is being organised in conjunction with Napier University and will take place in their Lindsay Stewart lecture theatre in the Craiglockhart Campus at 6.30pm on Monday, June 23.
Sir Alan said: “I am delighted to be taking part in a series of public meetings around the country, the first of which is being hosted by Edinburgh Napier University. I would like to hear what you would like to see from a regulator of the press. Please do come along to this event to share your opinion”.
Also taking part in the debate will be SNS director John McLellan, who formerly served on the Press Complaints Commission.
Sir Alan, who will shortly be retiring as an Appeal Court judge, gave his first interview about IPSO to Trinity Mirror’s regional papers this week and in it he said:
“The last thing IPSO wants to do is control or govern the press. We don’t want a controlled or governed press.
“We want a fearless press that from time to time will cross over not only lawful boundaries but acceptable boundaries. But far better that from time to time they do that and that then they are punished, than we have a timid press who fears to tread because then there will be nobody to protect us at all.”
But he added: “You simply have got to devise a system whereby the freedom is preserved and yet those who are traduced by breaches of the code get proper protection, proper recompense, and a right to reply and a right to correction.”
The full interview can be found here.
The debate is free and to attend simply register your interest by Friday, June 20 at events@napier.ac.uk.