News of the world

That may sound an overly dramatic statement, but I sincerely believe it as senior politicians talk the talk about beefing up press regulations following the phone hacking saga.

All week long, people have come up to me and asked what I think about the debacle.

In truth, I can’t tell you a lot about the News of the World. I didn’t read it often, never worked there and don’t believe I knew any of its last crop of staff.

But what I can tell you about is the Press Complaints Commission which has been attacked and ridiculed by politicians, some of whom wish it to be scrapped for previously giving a clean bill of health to News International, the owners of the late News of the World.

The PCC has been declared broken and toothless by critics for being unable to step in and take effective action.

So should we now be closing down the entire police force as well for not spotting this alleged criminal behaviour a lot earlier?

No, of course not, but then how do you expect an organisation such as the PCC to get to the bottom of what is essentially a police matter?

The PCC is certainly not toothless and is not broken in my experience, and I suspect hundreds of other provincial editors up and down the land will say the same.

I live in constant fear of breaking the code of conduct which includes among others clauses about: accuracy; privacy; harassment; children; intrusion into shock and grief; clandestine devices and discrimination.

A handful of our readers have complained over the years to the PCC about various stories and as soon as we receive a communication from the commission, we jump and ensure we resolve the complaint.

This can take a number of forms – an apology private or public, a promise not to repeat a particular action, or an explanation setting out why we did what we did.

If the PCC is not satisfied, it can adjudicate against a newspaper and we have to run a statement in our newspaper effectively condemning ourselves. Publications of such statements are always a source of shame and regret to any self-respecting editor and could well end up with us being sacked.

I have spent literally hours dealing with the PCC and have found it to be fair but annoyingly resolute. It acts on behalf of the common man and is free of charge.

In 2010, the PCC received more than 7,000 complaints but was contacted in addition to that many thousands of times. It issued more than 100 private advisory notes/desist requests to journalists with a near 100 per cent success rate.

When I am ever in doubt about presentation of a story, I ask staff to ring the PCC for ethics advice which is always given and is always useful.

Now, none of this would stop a rogue editor or paper who simply doesn’t care about reputations and black marks.

That’s presumably why the Prime Minister is asking for an inquiry into self-regulation of the press.

But what indeed are the alternatives? Would he want a committee of politicians, many of whom will have secret vested interests, to stand in judgment over the media?

Would he want a panel of senior judges to rule over the press? In my view, that would be a huge blow to media independence. Judges already slap super injunctions on us and preside over libel and contempt cases. Give them blanket rule over the press and the judiciary would truly rule the world.

Or do you really want to have to go to the police every time you have an unresolved complaint about a newspaper which involves ethics rather than illegality?

As it stands, the PCC is a good organisation and, contrary to what some believe, it is not made up purely of journalists. There are seven newspaper representatives on its panel compared to ten lay members. The PCC has huge satisfaction ratings among the people it serves, which is mainly you the public.

So don’t scrap it; just beef up its powers against errant papers.

If the politicians get their way, this hacking scandal will spell the beginning of the end for our free press because the balance will be tilted against investigative open journalism.

The rich and elite will be able to hide away their grubby little secrets for ever more because they know the press has literally been hacked to death. There will be a welter of unnecessary new rules and punishments that still won’t prevent illegal behaviour, but will stop the brilliant journalism that is a cornerstone of our freedoms.

Don’t let them do it because mark my words, the ultimate victims will not just be editors such as me – it will be you the public who will be the real losers in a flourishing new secret society.