The NUJ's national executive wants an ombudsman and a new press regulatory body containing working journalists to replace the Press Complaints Commission Loading... .
The union's National Executive Council has outlined its preference for how the press should be policed as the NUJ prepares to make a detailed submission to the Leveson Inquiry on what future regulation regime it wants.
The NUJ will argue that the PCC should be scrapped and be replaced by an ombudsman backed by a new regulatory body made up of working journalists, publishers and members of the public.
Although the PCC includes editors among its members it does not, unlike its predecessor the Press Council, include NUJ representatives.
The ombudsman model is seen by the NUJ as a sucesss in Ireland where the Press Council of Ireland and a press ombudsman was established four years ago in consultation with the union. The current Irish press ombudsman is an NUJ member.
Another major plank of the union's submission to Leveson is its long standing call for a "conscience clause" for journalists which would protect them from being sacked for refusing to do unethical journalism that was in breach of the NUJ's Code of Conduct.
The NUJ's proposals for Leveson are still at the outline stage with lots of detail needed to be added.
Newsletter Subscriptions
If you liked this article you can sign up to receive free weekly newsletters from the site by clicking here
TheMediaBriefing Social