Public want newspaper-funded press regulator

Most people want the UK's press regulator to be funded by newspaper industry, a poll has found.

Just four per cent of people think the body that handles complaints about the press should be funded by donations from wealthy individuals and trusts, compared with 49 per cent who back an industry-funded model, according to a YouGov poll of 1,632 adults.

A consultation closes next week on whether to force newspapers who aren’t signed up to a recognised press regulator to pay the legal costs of plaintiffs who take them to court - even when they lose.

Impress, which has received formal approval from the Press Recognition Panel set up in the wake of the Leveson Inquiry, is funded by motor racing mogul Max Moseley, and has no major media companies signed up.

Most newspapers have instead joined industry-funded independent regulator IPSO. Lynne Anderson, deputy chief executive of industry body the News Media Association, which commissioned the poll, said the Impress model “cannot command the confidence of the public”.

The poll also found 68% want unregulated social media platforms like Facebook to face the same or tigher rules. The consultation closes on 10 January.