Polanski brands press regulator ‘toothless’ and calls for forced sell-off of national newspapers

The Green Party leader has launched a blistering attack on Britain’s press regulation, branding the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) “toothless” and calling for a forced sell-off of most national newspapers by banning foreign ownership.

Zack Polanski is demanding an inquiry into the “culture and behaviour” of the press, arguing that the time has come for the media to be “sorted out.”

His intervention follows the death of Jason Arday, the former University of Cambridge professor who was found dead in London after facing intense media scrutiny over allegations of plagiarism. Polanski condemned what he described as “sustained and malicious media attacks,” arguing that Arday had faced particular hostility because he was black.

“We must now reflect on the impact of a trial by some of the media and online on someone under extreme pressure,” Polanski said.

The Prime Minister, responding to Arday’s death, urged a “moment of reflection” and warned people “not to rush to judgement.” Polanski criticised the comments, arguing that Andy Burnham had “utterly failed to recognise the moment to tackle the press.”

“I don’t think it would be ‘rushing to judgment’ to see that the press hounding people – especially people of colour – has been going on for a very long time,” he said.

The Green Party leader also took aim at press misinformation involving climate change. Replying to a story by the Daily Mail about the heatwaves in Britain, he said:

“Constant misinformation to protect their donors and fossil fuels is destroying lives and our planet. The Government must step up and stop being cowardly.”

In a letter to Burnham, Polanski has called on the government to launch an inquiry into how to “ensure a responsible press.”

The demands are being echoed within the Green Party. Members have called for the government to reopen the Leveson Inquiry to ensure its “full completion” and to place the British press under a “genuinely independent and recognised regulator with effective enforcement powers.”

A party motion has proposed that any new regulator should have powers to monitor what members describe as “harassment” arising from news coverage, as well as to “map and address” instances of racism and ableism.

Polanski’s comments inevitably drew a furious response from the right, with Free Speech Union founder Lord Toby Young telling the Telegraph that the Greens were attempting to exploit Arday’s death to advance what he described as an “anti-free speech agenda.”

“For the Green Party to pre-empt the inquest into [Mr Arday’s] death and weaponise it to pursue their anti-free speech agenda is both cynical and exploitative,” said Young.

“The British press does not need to be ‘sorted out’. Scrutinising powerful and influential figures and holding them to account, including Zack Polanksi, is precisely what it should be doing.”

This is the Toby Young who managed to secure a seat in the House of Lords from Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, despite having been forced to resign from the Office for Students in 2018 after a string of misogynistic and homophobic tweets, including one where he referred to George Clooney as “queer as a coot” and another joking about visiting a bar full of “hardcore dykes.”

In other words, the man defending the press’s right to hold powerful people to account might reasonably be asked who holds the press, and those defending it, to account.