IPSO welcomes John Witherow to its board

IPSO announced in early June that it has welcomed the former Times editor, John Witherow, to its board as a member with recent senior editorial experience.

John has had a long career as an editor and correspondent. Until he stepped down in 2022, John was the longest serving national newspaper editor in Britain at The Times (from 2013) and The Sunday Times (from 1995). He is currently the chairman of Times Media.

Speaking of John’s appointment to IPSO’s board, Lord Faulks, IPSO chair said: “We are delighted to welcome John Witherow to IPSO’s board. John has long been a strong supporter of independent regulation to protect both the public and freedom of expression – demonstrating that print and digital news publishers can uphold high standards without the need for measures that would undermine press freedom. With this in mind, John was a strong advocate for the creation of IPSO.”

John Witherow’s reporting career at The Times began with covering the Iranian embassy siege in London in 1980. He reported on the Iran-Iraq war and the Falklands war from the aircraft carrier, HMS Invincible. When John was editor of the Sunday Times, the paper broke stories including cash for questions, cash for honours, and the Lords’ expenses scandal, and helped to uncover the drugs cheating of the cyclist Lance Armstrong and corruption at FIFA. Under his leadership, The Times won numerous newspaper awards.

John said he was delighted to be joining IPSO’s board: “I regard independent self-regulation of the press as essential to maintain high editorial standards and as an important bulwark against encroachments on the freedom of expression. The news industry has changed dramatically – and IPSO’s regulatory approach has strengthened freedom of expression and raised standards to the benefit of the public.”