Pushback as Culture Secretary criticises press regulator

Martin Shipton

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has provoked a strong reaction after she said she is “really concerned” about the usefulness of press regulator IPSO.

Speaking at the Society of Editors’ Future of News Conference in London, she said regulation of the media is “perhaps the single greatest area in which I am urged by the public to act”.

Nandy said she is “really concerned that when we look at IPSO, that when complaints are made, only 1% of them are upheld, and nobody’s ever been fined.

“If only 1% of complaints are upheld and nobody has ever been fined, is that because everything that is produced by the press in this country is 100% true and accurate, or is that because the system needs to be more robust?

“And that is a challenge that I put back to you, because I think that a free and fearless press is more important in this country now than ever.”

Nevertheless, she said the UK Government “will tread carefully and cautiously about regulation of the press”.

She said “any right-minded government should” be cautious around press regulation “because it is a precious and important thing that fearless journalists can hold government to account”.

Earlier in her speech, Nandy said: “Media regulation in the UK has evolved with care and caution over many years, and this is for good reason: to protect that rare and precious independence of the media landscape and its ability to speak truth to power, whilst empowering supporting viewers, readers and citizens to have and trust the media they need.

“It’s left us with a system where the press is almost entirely self regulated, broadcast media is independently regulated, and an online world which has resembled the Wild West, but where all governments across the world are now starting to act.

“Every government should tread with care when it comes to new regulation, but we as a Government are closely following the trends in media consumption. I understand that there is a market for clickbait, something that has informed the development of news for more than ten years.”

‘Trusted news’

However she said there are “signs of a much bigger and growing market for trusted news and for the enablers of a vibrant debate and a larger, richer conversation”.

A spokesperson for IPSO said: “IPSO has a complex and testing role, and recognises that our decisions will give rise to strong and sometimes conflicting challenges and criticism.

“A quoted figure of 1% upheld complaints is not a meaningful reflection of how we handle complaints, because it takes no account of the large volumes of complaints we sometimes receive about a single issue. It also includes complaints that we receive that fall clearly outside of our remit, such as those about publications that we do not regulate.

“Last year, we took forward 308 complaints that were pursued to a conclusion (excluding repeat complaints). The Complaints Committee ruled on 115 of these, and upheld just under half (53 upheld, or 46%). The remaining complaints were resolved to the complainant’s satisfaction.

“We work hard to engage publishers so that standards issues can be addressed before the point where an investigation is required or a fine could be issued. This approach has so far been successful and has prevented the need for more costly and burdensome interventions.”

Previous analysis has shown similarly low rates of upheld complaints among those received by Ofcom (0.03%) and the BBC (4.6% upheld in full and 0.2% in part) between January and August 2025.

Mark Mansfield, CEO of Nation.Cymru, said: “We are regulated by IPSO and do not see them as a light-touch regulator.

“We spend many hours dealing with what we consider to be unjustified and sometimes vexatious complaints.

“Lisa Nandy should be more concerned about the way Ofcom, the broadcast regulator, allows GB News, Reform UK’s propaganda channel, to drive a coach and horses through the Broadcasting Act, which requires broadcasters to be impartial.”

‘Nonsense’

Northamptonshire-based court reporter Kate Cronin said: “Nandy has clearly spoken to zero local journalists before coming up with this nonsense. She could have just called her local paper and they would have told her the score. As culture secretary she appears to be constantly fighting against the media. She’s supposed to represent us!”

Ian Carter, chief operating officer of the Iliffe media group, which owns local newspapers in England, said: “Her comments are ridiculous. The time some of our editors spend liaising with Ipso over clearly baseless court complaints is the single biggest deterrent to covering them in the first place.”

Mr Carter later posted: “If you want an example of how the Government really feels about local media, Kent’s biggest news outlet has been barred from attending the [UK Health Secretary] @wesstreeting meningitis briefing.”

Politicians

In her speech Nandy also spoke about her opposition to politicians presenting news programmes – an area of criticism made towards broadcast regulator Ofcom and the way it regulates GB News, although Nandy did not name a specific broadcaster. Last year a High Court judge quashed two Ofcom decisions relating to programmes presented by then-Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg due to an “error of law”.

Nandy said: “Navigating this media landscape has also been complicated by a dangerous blurring of fact and polemic, and at a minimum we believe it cannot be acceptable for politicians to present news, without it being made clear to viewers that they are not neutral and, as elected politicians, are required to have a point of view.

“I am exploring action in this space, because people have a right to know what they are seeing and whether it should be treated as opinion or fact.”

In October 2025 Ofcom decided not to change its rules setting out when politicians can act as presenters following concerns from broadcasters that its plan would result in a “de facto ban”. But it did make clearer the circumstances in which politicians can present news programmes, including the fact that their position impacts whether due impartiality has been met.