Lebedev offers to oversee British media clean-up

London's youngest press baron, Evgeny Lebedev, son of the Russian oligarch and former KGB officer Alexander Lebedev, has called for media proprietors to work together to clean up the industry in the wake of the revelation that the News of the World hacked into the phone messages of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler.
 
Lebedev, who is responsible for the day-to-day running of the Independent and Evening Standard newspapers, called for industry wide co-operation to try to protect the reputation of British journalism, which he fears is in steep decline.
 
The 31-year-old, who became a British citizen last year, has announced himself in the public eye after keeping a relatively low profile.
 
Last week he oversaw the reshuffle at the Independent that heralded the end of Simon Kelner's reign as editor, and now he has called for reform of the media and at the same time dismissed the effectiveness of the Press Complaints Comission watchdog.
 
Writing in the Guardian this morning, Lebedev said: "If the Press Complaints Commission is fit for purpose, its recent conduct is not proof of that." He described the phone hacking saga as "one of the biggest scandals in public life for decades", but lamented that "our response has been weak".
 
Lebedev also appeared to refer to the recent spate of super-injunctions imposed on the media and the use of websites like Twitter in breaking them. He said the rise of social networks meant that the media landscape had changed.

"A consequence of this is the anarchic flow of information, and the difficulty of legislating effectively on it," he wrote. "There have been times over the past year when I have opened red-top newspapers and despaired of their sensationalism.

"But if red-top values are the price we pay for an open society, I would rather that – with all the attendant controversy and prurience – over the closed minds bred by a less free press."
 
Paradoxically, he added that as the "British-Russian son of a former KGB officer" he believed free speech was essential to a free society, before issuing a rallying cry to other media owners. "I would like to take steps with other newspaper proprietors over the coming months to see if we can collectively improve things," he said. ·