IPSO
The Independent Press Standards Organisation regulates most national newspapers and many locals against the Editors’ Code. It is the post-Leveson settlement the big groups chose, and the complaints door most readers will actually use.
Regulation
The law the press actually lives under
Britain does not have a First Amendment. It has an Editors’ Code, two press regulators, a broadcasting statute, a defamation Act, and a data-protection regime with a journalism exemption.
IMPRESS
The recognised regulator under the Royal Charter system Leveson envisaged. A number of independent and local titles — including The Ferret — sit here. Recognition is a legal fact, not a moral trophy.
Ofcom
The statutory regulator for broadcast and, increasingly, online safety. The BBC’s news output sits in a charter-and-Ofcom world that print independents do not.
Leveson’s remainder
The Leveson Inquiry followed phone hacking. It proposed a recognised self-regulator backed by costs incentives in Section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013. Section 40 was never commenced. The result is the split we still have: IPSO for most of the national press, IMPRESS for a smaller recognised cohort, and titles that sit with neither.
Independent journalism does not get a moral bye from this history. A small title can still libel someone. The useful question is which door a reader can knock on, and whether anyone has to open it.
The statutes independents actually meet
Defamation Act 2013
Serious harm, the public-interest defence, and truth. A small newsroom’s insurance is the real regulator. This is why SLAPPs hit independents harder than they hit a billionaire’s paper.
Data protection and the journalism exemption
UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 include a journalism exemption. It is why a newsroom can process personal data for a story that a marketing list cannot.
FOI Act 2000 and FOISA 2002
Two regimes, not one. Scotland’s commissioner, timescales, and exemptions differ. Independent reporters who file as if Edinburgh were a London borough lose weeks.
National Security Act 2023
Updated official-secrets territory and ‘foreign power’ offences. Foreign-policy independents have to take legal advice earlier.
Online Safety Act
Aimed at platforms, but the climate around illegal content and what a ‘news publisher’ is will keep moving. Independents should know whether they qualify as a recognised news publisher.
This page is a map, not advice. For a complaint about a specific title, use IPSO, IMPRESS, or Ofcom. For a complaint about this site, write to [email protected].
How investigations use this law →Law is a beat, not a vibe
If you teach media law or edit a title choosing between IPSO, IMPRESS, or neither, we will read a precise question. We will not pretend to be your counsel.
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