A new innovative independent regulatory system is now needed if the British press and public can begin to recreate a relationship of mutual trust and cooperation.
The Press Council of Ireland offers up a ready-made effective watchdog model which could be instantly implemented once the distressed industry emerges from the imminent public enquiries.
Media mogul Rupert Murdoch interrupted committee proceedings today to declare: "This is the most humble day of my life."
And so, on the day when the humbled multi-billionaire tycoon was called before parliament to give evidence on the HackGate affair which threatens to ripple through his entire empire, all media outlets must also take stock and be humbled.
The Press Complaints Commission, in its current form, is no longer adequate for the unknown new era into which the British media must enter.
Since 2008 Irish newspapers have subscribed to a code of practice with the Press Council of Ireland and the Press Ombudsman. Among them are the Irish Sun, Irish Daily Star, Irish Daily Mirror, the Irish Daily Mail, the Sunday Times, the Sunday World, the Irish Mail on Sunday and the Irish Sunday Mirror--all with roots in the United Kingdom.
The council, which is strictly independent of the media, manages to sensitively straddle two divides--safeguarding the rights of a free press and acknowledging rights in terms of privacy and accuracy.
Where a complainant is successful in arguing the code of practice was broken by a publication, the Press Council can publish its verdict and demand the newspaper issues a public apology.
The Ombudsman John Horgan has claimed that licence to print is granted by the public and can be withdrawn if credibility, reliability, honesty or fairness is endangered.
Credibility is like an iceberg: once it melts, it is impossible to reconstitute it, the Irish media referee warned two years ago.
During the debut year of the Press Ombudsman, 372 public complaints were lodged by aggrieved members of the public, falling to 315 in 2010.
The complaints fell into four categories, with truth and accuracy drawing 116 complaints, privacy (99), fairness and honesty (44) and distinguishing fact and comment (40).
In all, just 35 cases required a decision from the Ombudsman last year, as the remainder related to articles published before the establishment of the council or emanated from newspapers that were not members of the Press Council.
Of the 35 cases adjudicated, one-third were decided in favour of the complainant, leading to public statements by the Press Council and public apologies by the newspapers.
Only two cases were deemed serious enough to go before the Press Council for further consideration.
The agreed code, the independency of the council, and the scope for public apologies has made the Press Council a body respected by both press and public.
Its emergence followed repeated debate about the quality and standards of Irish journalism, with some observers blaming the influence of "British-owned red-tops" for a diminution of standards.
Back in 1999 an Irish columnist John Waters wrote in The Irish Times wrote that the "worst aspects of British tabloidism are being combined with pub-counter personal animosity in a cocktail of ugliness to make Rupert Murdoch go as red as one of his own mastheads with embarrassment."
And he continued: "Every day, wounds are walked upon, weaknesses exploited and scores settled, and those responsible become the highest paid, highest-profile people in Ireland."
Some ten years after that mournful analysis, Irish newspapers can still be aggressive, biased and provocative, while producing important investigative pieces and unearthing major scandals in the public interest.
But editors and journalists now work within strict parameters, and an agreed code of conduct.
Ultimately, it means a free press can continue to self-regulate and play to the referee's whistle, rather than the intervention of robust government regulation.