The Centre for Freedom of the Media (CFOM), University of Sheffield, has conducted a two-year comprehensive study of editorial standards of accuracy and complaints handling pre- and post-IPSO. At a time of intense political debate about disinformation in general, and also in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic, the ability to find accurate and trustworthy information has never been more important. The aim of the research, conducted by Dr. Chrysi Dagoula (University of Groningen), Professor Jackie Harrison (University of Sheffield) and Dr. Irini Katsirea (PI) (University of Sheffield) is to explore member publishers’ editorial standards and, in particular, whether and how standards of complaints handling have changed within the industry.
Using a mixed method approach, the research combines quantitative and qualitative methods to understand what impact, if any, IPSO has had on standards at member publishers, measured by the prominence, speed and adequacy of corrections. The research focused on 17 publications, covering a range of daily national newspapers, Sunday editions, and a sample of regional newspapers. The researchers found that more professional and systematic complaints handling processes and greater transparency about newspapers’ policies have been introduced under IPSO. This improvement in processes has translated into a partial improvement in the prominence, speed and adequacy of corrections.
For the full report see https://www.ipso.co.uk/monitoring/research/