A free press - Telegraph Exactly two years ago today, at the height of the phone-hacking scandal, the News of the World - after 168 years of publication - was closed by its proprietor Rupert Murdoch. In its aftermath, everyone - including the newspaper industry - agreed that the existing regulatory structure did not work effectively and needed to be replaced. Lord Justice Leveson in his inquiry report last November recommended a beefed-up system of self-regulation, backed by statute. This newspaper, along with most of its competitors, opposed any form of legislative underpinning as inimical to free speech, a view that was shared by David Cameron. Since then, there has been an arcane debate, whose details were lost on most people, about whether and how an independent self-regulator could be established by Royal Charter. In the end, however, most newspaper readers are concerned less with the procedural mechanics (about which organisations such as Hacked Off obsess) and are more interested to know that a tough system exists to consider their complaints against publications and offer redress. The industry has drawn up plans for just such an independent and robust body to replace the Press Complaints Committee. Known as the Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso), it will address all the failings of the old PCC while having new powers to impose fines, conduct investigations and order corrections. Most importantly, it would keep the state at arm's length from newspapers, as it has been for more than 300 years. Recent stories exposing scandals in the NHS and the police have demonstrated the importance of a free and fearless press, just as the phone-hacking affair showed the need for a robust regulator. By pressing ahead with the creation of Ipso without any further political interference, we can now have both.