2 NDM stories

Why the Impress Project wants to talk about press regulation :

. The newspaper owners behind Ipso are ignoring the public, so we need to think about building a robust, independent regulator

. The old talk of stones and presses is dying as new technology transforms the media landscape.

. the core function of journalism remains, whether it comes in a weekly bundle or a live feed: to entertain and inform, build our communities and speak truth to power

. Since Lord Justice Leveson published his report last November, the public have echoed his call for a truly independent regulator which would deal robustly with code breaches and provide access to justice through an arbitration scheme

. This would be a huge improvement on the current situation, where only those with the deepest pockets can fight a libel or privacy action.

. An independent regulator, would prevent politicians from taking any role. It would approve the code at the heart of the complaints system. It would direct corrections, on the front page if necessary, if newspapers didn't resolve a valid complaint themselves. And it could provide cheap and efficient access to justice, not only for newspapers and their readers but also potentially for online publishers and others who are threatened with libel or privacy actions.

. Newspaper readers say a trusted complaints system can't be under the control of the government or the newspaper industry.

 

The Sun has digital subscribers and soccer, but the goal is hard to see :

. The Bun's eagerly awaited post-paywall numbers aren't quite as revelatory as Murdoch watchers were hoping

. debate about subscription paywalls around newspaper websites

. Rupert right to want Sun punters to pay for everything? Do those heretics who still believe in free have all the best arguments? Ah! here, after four months of silence, comes Mr Murdoch's beloved Bun, at last giving us some facts to confirm the boss's prejudices.

. Since August, when the wall went up, 117,000 readers have, one way or another, bought the Sun+ digital package

. 47% of them signed up on mobile, 30% of them in the precious 25-to-34 age range. So everyone – though talking long marches – professes themselves content. Maybe, at £2 a week, the Bun could be drawing in £12m to £13m extra revenue that wasn't there last "free" July.