‘Fines will not deter newspaper misconduct’

Fining newspapers for bad behaviour is unlikely to act as a deterrent or boost public confidence in the press, according to the Press Ombudsman.

Professor John Horgan said he would be slow to endorse a policy of imposing fines on the grounds that if you put a price on misbehaviour, “the unscrupulous will always be willing — and many of them will also be able — to pay it”.

Addressing a seminar organised by the Society of Editors in Belfast yesterday, he said he doubted a system of fines would reinforce public confidence in the press in the manner those who supported such a system imagined.