Daily Mail Trial: British People Say Press Standards Haven’t Improved Since Phone Hacking Scandal

British people believe standards in the UK press have not improved since the phone hacking scandal 15 years ago, with seven-in-ten voters demanding the industry be independently regulated for the first time, according to a new poll.

The survey conducted by pollsters Opinium for the Press Justice Project charity, found that 54% of those surveyed said press standards either haven’t improved or have got worse over the past decade, with a further 71% saying the press should now be regulated by a body independent from the industry and politicians.

Voters want publications to be more accountable for inaccurate reporting. Seventy three percent of those surveyed said they believed press corrections should be published with the same size and prominence as the original misleading reporting.

Support for reforming the press could be found across supporters of all parties, according to the poll, including voters for Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.

Of all the potential options for reforming the press, the most popular was for newspapers and their websites to be regulated by an independent statutory regulator, like Ofcom.

According to the poll, readers of the Metro (45%) the Daily Mail (38%), the Daily Express (37%), The Sun (35%), the Daily Telegraph (33%) and The Times (31%) all backed independent statutory regulation as their favoured option.

None of these papers are currently independently regulated.

Stephen Kinsella OBE, chair of the Press Justice Project, said: “Newspaper publishers often say they have ‘cleaned up their act’ since the appalling practices revealed by the phone hacking scandal, and argue there is no need for reform of press regulation.

“Every week, we at the Press Justice Project hear from people affected by wrongdoing in the press, which proves otherwise.  These results show that the wider public shares our concerns.  There is a clear public demand for independent press regulation that provides effective remedies when newspapers fail to uphold ethical standards.

“Press wrongdoing continues to affect people from all walks of life. Almost 15 years on from the phone hacking scandal, there is still an urgent need to protect the public from press abuse. The Press Justice Project shares the public’s support for legislation that encourages industry compliance with independent and effective press regulation, in the interests of the victims of press wrongdoing we were established to assist.”

The findings come in the same week a High Court trial opened into alleged lawbreaking at the Daily Mail, including allegations of phone hacking, landline tapping, burglaries, and the theft of medical records.

More than 400 potential victims have been identified by the claimants’ lawyers, after evidence was uncovered suggesting they were hacked and blagged by the Mail titles.

The claimants allege phone hacking and other unlawful practices stretching back decades.