POLITICIANS, celebrities or the State should never be able to decide what counts as news, the Editor-in-Chief of The Sun has said.
Victoria Newton defended the role of the popular Press to deliver stories with “purpose, reach and a bit of mischief” during a key speech on media freedom.
Faced with the challenges of disinformation and AI, she said she is “optimistic” about the lasting power of proper journalism.
Ms Newton said: “There are still powerful people who would like the press to be more tightly controlled.
“They usually say this is about standards, or privacy, or responsibility, and sometimes it is.
“But sometimes it is really about those who have lived by publicity, deciding they don’t like scrutiny when the story turns against them.
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“Of course, there must be rules and standards. But the answer can never be a system where politicians, celebrities or the state decide what counts as news.”
Ms Newton said The Sun’s exclusive stories on disgraced BBC news reader Huw Edwards showed the importance of an independent tabloid press.
When this paper exposed Edwards for paying a vulnerable teenager for intimate images, it faced a “firestorm of abuse”, she said.
She said: “Only the popular press could have exposed this paedophile.
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“And, while saddened, I am proud that we were brave enough to publish it.”
She added that journalism produced by reporters at The Sun is key to “beating AI slop”, and technology companies should be prepared to pay for it if they want to benefit from it.
The Hugh Cudlipp Lecture, delivered in London on Thursday, was created in memory of the former editorial director of the Daily Mirror and is an annual platform for senior media leaders to share views on the industry.