IPSO’s broader commitment to press standards includes supporting all of our member publishers with bespoke newsroom training.

We can provide more information about IPSO and explain our complaints process and how publishers can cooperate with this, including tips on how to resolve complaints. We also explain key decisions by the Complaints Committee, so that editors and journalists can understand how IPSO approaches difficult issues. We always try to make the training sessions as interactive as possible, so journalists can get tailored advice on any difficult issues they might face.

We can also offer more specialised training, focusing on particular Clauses of the Code, or rulings that the publication thinks are interesting and relevant to their work – whatever amount of training a newsroom requires. Last year, we delivered a number of training sessions around Clause 5 (Reporting of suicide).

Training is a joint initiative between our Standards and Complaints teams and we have been visiting newsrooms up and down the country to provide training for a wide range of publishers. At recent training sessions we have had interesting discussions around social media and how journalists use local Facebook groups to find out what’s going on in their areas, whether journalists should remove addresses from court reports when the addresses are disputes and whether publishing the location where someone took their life could be considered a method of suicide.

We’re are also able to make journalists aware of all the other ways IPSO can assist outside of the complaints process, whether this is through our 24-hour pre-publication advice line or the guidance we have published for both journalists and the public.

Delivering training is one of the most interesting and rewarding parts of my job at IPSO. I think that it is really important that member publications, especially smaller, local titles who may not have frequent contact with us through the complaints process, understand how we applies the Editors’ Code and are aware of all the resources we offer.

Training is also beneficial for IPSO. We really value hearing from journalists and editors about their experiences of journalism. Our training seminars offer a forum for everyone to share their ideas, and we have had some really interesting discussions about the Code, and real life examples of tricky issues that journalists have had to deal with.

To find out more about the training IPSO offers, email Rosemary Douce, Standards Officer, at rosemary.douce@ipso.co.uk