The internal audit of editorial expenses announced by News Limited CEO John Hartigan yesterday will include “an element of independent oversight” following conversations between the chair of the Press Council, Julian Disney and News Limited executives.

Disney, who is leading a reform effort at the Press Council, told Crikey this morning that he had had conversations with Hartigan and News Limited’s Campbell Reid earlier this week about the audit, and discussions were continuing

Disney wrote a piece for The Conversation this week, in which he said that while there was no evidence of News of the World-type illegality in Australian journalism, it was important not to be complacent.

Disney said that Hartigan had agreed that there should be an “independent element” to the review. This would not be Press Council oversight, but an outside official, probably with legal or judicial experience.

“I said I thought that was essential, and they agreed,” Disney said. He said he had also urged Hartigan to announce a timeline for the review, and he understood he would be consulted about the person to provide external review, and the methodology.

In other news, Disney told Crikey that the Press Council would be making a submission to the federal government’s convergence review advocating a unified system of policing media ethics and standards that would cover all platforms.

This would be in contrast to the present system, in which the Press Council, an industry-funded body, covers print, the Australian Communications and Media Authority covers broadcast and internet sites (such as Crikey) are not covered, other than by the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance code, which applies only to journalists who are members of the union.

Disney would not be drawn on whether the Press Council might advocate statutory powers for a converged body, but I understand this is being debated within the council.

On the internal audit of News Limited’s editorial expenditure, Disney is treading a delicate line between being relevant, and being used.

The Press Council’s relations with News Limited have not always been harmonious, as evidenced by previous chairman Ken McKinnon’s parting spray a few years ago, in which he attacked the industry in strident terms for cutting the council’s funding.

Disney has negotiated and  overseen restoration of some of that funding, as well as getting money from outside sources. This is being used to fund an increased focus on standards. However, with a staff of just four, the council is hardly resourced to be able to conduct the kind of investigation that would result in a confident bill of clean health for any media organisation.

At a time when it is trying to build its credibility it must avoid being caught in the trap of its British counterpart, which issued clean bills of health on inadequate grounds.

Yet in his statement yesterday Hartigan is clearly appealing to the credibility Press Council involvement might give.

So what about the audit? Obviously it is a good thing, but the questions that arise about it are the same as any good journalist would ask of an institution.

Who will conduct it? What are its terms of reference? When will it report, will that report be made public and how transparent will the process be?

News Limited can legitimately expect that its financial details will be kept confidential, yet if the public is to attach significance to the result of the audit, some transparency and considerable independence will be necessary. So far, Hartigan has made no commitments, either to transparency or timeliness.

And why is it to be confined to only the past three years, particularly when those in the know are saying that if there ever was a problem of this kind at News Limited, it is likely to be at one specific publication about five years back, when the culture took a decidedly Fleet Streetish turn.

Watching the space.