View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

  1. Media Law
February 9, 2012

Stanistreet slams Dacre’s ‘ridiculous’ press card plan

By Andrew Pugh

NUJ general secretary Michelle Stanistreet has dismissed Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre’s calls for a new press card system as impractical and ‘ridiculous”.

On Monday Dacre set out his vision for a new umbrella body that would have sole responsibility for issuing press cards, which would become an ‘essential kite mark for ethical, proper journalism”.

He argued that such a system would be an effective means of ensuring all newspapers and magazines signed up to self-regulation by excluding non-card carrying members from access to bodies such as the Government, local authorities and the police.

It would replace current press card issuing bodies which include the NUJ.

At the Leveson Inquiry this afternoon Stanistreet said Dacre’s proposals were ‘ridiculous”. ‘I don’t think it would work in practice,’she said. ‘I don’t understand the premise behind it: why would the industry, why would the newspaper owners, be in a position to somehow guarantee things that don’t happen at the moment as a result of [being] the press card gatekeepers?

‘I think this is yet another example of how as an editor – a very high profile influential member of the industry – is trying to again pin the blame on individual journalists. They want a system in place that’s run by the industry and controlled by the industry.”

Under such a system, argued Stanistreet, blame would be directed toward the ordinary reporter and not the management that employs them.

Content from our partners
MHP Group's 30 To Watch awards for young journalists open for entries
How PA Media is helping newspapers make the digital transition
Publishing on the open web is broken, how generative AI could help fix it

‘It does absolutely nothing to move us forward from where we are today and it doesn’t tackle at all any of the issues about the culture, practice and ethics within the press,’she said.

‘It’s not at all a notion that we would support and I’ve seen since the widespread reaction to it, from many seasoned journalists and many academics in the industry, that’s it’s a ridiculous notion.

‘It would never work and, again, it doesn’t account for the fact that journalists operate in a culture that is imposed on them from above.

‘Under his [Dacre’s] model he would have all the power and none of the responsibility.”

Stanistreet warned it would also be a step toward the licensing of journalists, something the NUJ would ‘absolutely oppose and would damage press freedom within the UK”.

‘It’s not a practical model and it’s not a solution to the problems we’re all sharing here in this inquiry,’she said.

  • To contact the Press Gazette newsdesk call 020 7336 5327 or email pged@pressgazette.co.uk

Topics in this article :

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

Select and enter your email address Weekly insight into the big strategic issues affecting the future of the news industry. Essential reading for media leaders every Thursday. Your morning brew of news about the world of news from Press Gazette and elsewhere in the media. Sent at around 10am UK time. Our weekly does of strategic insight about the future of news media aimed at US readers. A fortnightly update from the front-line of news and advertising. Aimed at marketers and those involved in the advertising industry.
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network