IPSO makes two appointments

IPSO has appointed Karen Barnes to its lay-majority board. The former first minister of Wales, Professor Right Honourable Carwyn Jones, is joining IPSO’s Complaints Committee as a lay member.

The Chair of IPSO, Lord Faulks KC, said: “I’m delighted to announce these appointments which bring valuable experience and broad perspectives to IPSO’s work of upholding editorial standards.

“Karen Barnes is a highly respected editor. Her extensive and current knowledge of magazines – as she joins us only weeks after her departure from her editorial role at delicious. – will be a huge asset to IPSO’s efforts to ensure our work is relevant and valuable across all sectors that we regulate.

“Carwyn Jones spent nine years as first minister of Wales. His deep and varied experience will be of huge value to the Complaints Committee. He is a lawyer with experience of diverse issues including constitutional law, disciplinary panels, planning decisions, charity governance, rural affairs, and planning decisions. As a lay member, he will bring his excellent analytical skills, knowledge and judgment to protecting the public and freedom of expression.”

Before joining Eye to Eye Media as editorial director of delicious, Karen Barnes worked for Hearst UK as head of the Good Housekeeping Institute and associate editor for Good Housekeeping magazine. Karen is a trustee of two NGOs: Ukuthasa, a charity working with impoverished communities in South Africa, and Liberty Kitchen, a charity working to teach prisoners cooking skills for life, with the aim of reducing reoffending rates.

Karen said of her appointment: “Over the past twenty years the media landscape has changed beyond recognition. It is an honour to join IPSO – an organisation committed to upholding the standards and ethics of journalism. It’s vital for there to be robust, independent regulation in order to defend freedom of expression and protect the public.”

Carwyn Jones spent nine years as First Minister of Wales until December 2018. As First Minister, he led a government that introduced landmark legislation including the Human Transplantation (Wales) Act and Well-being of Future Generations Act.

He was previously the chief legal advisor to the Welsh Government and held ministerial responsibilities for Open Government and Rural Affairs. He is a professor of Law at Aberystwyth University, chair of the environmental charity Size of Wales, and a non-executive director of the Food Farming and Countryside Commission.

Responding to his appointment to the Complaints Committee as a lay member, Carwyn said: “The principle of freedom of expression is hugely important to me and for society at a time when journalism and journalists are under attack around the world. It is crucially important that there should be freedom to debate and question. There needs to be extensive and sometimes robust questioning of those involved in political decision-making and for the public to have access to a wide range of news sources and viewpoints. It is also important of course to make sure that editorial standards are as high as they can be. The public need to have confidence that those standards have been applied in articles that they read.”

Karen Barnes was nominated by the independent IPSO Appointment Panel. Carwyn Jones was appointed by the Nominations Committee of IPSO's board.