Journalists are “indispensable” to modern day Britain, helping to keep our society free, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has said.

The Church of England’s chief religious figure preached the importance of freedom of the press on a visit to Canterbury Christ Church University’s journalism course.

Interviewed by students, Welby said: “In most of the countries where Anglicans live… there is no freedom of the press, or the press is corrupted in one way or another. In many places people will be tortured, threatened, bribed – all of the above…