Press Complaints Commission 1

Press Complaints Commission

The Press Complaints Commission logo

Press Complaints Commission in Salisbury Square

The Press Complaints Commission (PCC) is avoluntary regulatory body for British printednewspapers and magazines, consisting ofrepresentatives of the major publishers. The PCCis funded by the annual levy it chargesnewspapers and magazines. It has no legalpowers – all newspapers and magazinesvoluntarily contribute to the costs of, and adhereto the rulings of, the Commission, making theindustry self-regulating.[1]

The PCC received extensive criticism for its lackof action in the News of the World phonehacking affair, including from MPs and PrimeMinister David Cameron, who called for it to bereplaced with a new system in July 2011.[2]

Lord Hunt was appointed Chairman of theCommission in October 2011.[3] In December2011 Lord Hunt announced his plans to replacethe PCC with a new independent regulator.[4]

Hunt also wants to introduce a voluntary,paid-for, 'kitemarking' system for blogs. The kitemark would indicate that the blogger has agreed to strive foraccuracy, and to be regulated. Bloggers would lose their kitemark if complaints against them were repeatedly upheld.He plans to start the roll-out by targeting bloggers that cover current affairs.When asked about his proposals in an interview Hunt said “At the moment, it is like the Wild West out there. Weneed to appoint a sheriff.”[5]

Chairpeople•• Lord Hunt• Baroness Buscombe (2009-2011)[6]

• Sir Christopher Meyer (2003-2009)•• Professor Robert Pinker (2002)• Lord Wakeham (1995-2002)

HistoryThe precursor to the PCC was the Press Council, a voluntary press organisation founded in 1953 with the aim ofmaintaining high standards of ethics in journalism. However in the late 1980s, several newspapers breached thesestandards and others were unsatisfied with the effectiveness of the council. The Home Office thus set up adepartmental committee, headed by Sir David Calcutt, to investigate whether a body with formal legal powersshould be created to regulate the industry.The report, published in June 1990, concluded that a voluntary body, with a full, published code of conduct shouldbe given eighteen months to prove its effectiveness. Should it fail, the report continued, a legally empowered bodywould replace it. Members of the press, keen to avoid external regulation, established the Press Complaints

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Commission and its Code of Practice.The first high-profile case handled by the PCC was brought by HRH The Duke of York who claimed that the presswere invading the privacy of his small children. The complaint was upheld.The Commission's first chairman was Lord McGregor of Durris. He was succeeded by Lord Wakeham in 1995. Heresigned in January 2002 after concerns over a conflict of interest when the Enron Corporation collapsed. He hadbeen a member of the company's audit committee. Sir Christopher Meyer was appointed in 2002 following a briefperiod of interim chairmanship by Professor Robert Pinker, leaving in 2008.In 2006, the PCC received 3,325 complaints from members of the public. Around two thirds of these were related toalleged factual inaccuracies, one in five related to alleged invasions of privacy and the rest included the lack of rightto reply, harassment and obtaining information using covert devices. 90% of cases were resolved to thecomplainants' satisfaction. 31 of the cases were adjudicated by the Commission before being resolved as thecomplainants were initially not satisfied by the action recommended by the Commission.[]

In 2009 the PCC received more than 25,000 complaints, a record number, after an article appeared in the Daily Mailwritten by Jan Moir about the death of Boyzone singer Stephen Gately. Moir had described events leading up thedeath as "sleazy" and "less than respectable". On 17 February the PCC confirmed that although it was"uncomfortable with the tenor of the columnist's remarks", it would not uphold the complaints made.[7]

As of 12 January 2011, the Northern and Shell group (often referred to as the Express Group) of publicationswithdrew its subscription to the PCC. According to the PCC, "a refusal to support the self-regulatory systemfinancially means that a newspaper publisher effectively withdraws from the PCC's formal jurisdiction, which thePCC considers regrettable". Consequently the Daily & Sunday Express, Scottish Daily & Sunday Express, Daily &Sunday Star, OK!, New magazine and Star magazine are no longer bound by the PCC's code of practice, and thepublic no longer has recourse to making complaints through the PCC.[8]

The Guardian newspaper reported[9] in May 2011 that social media messages are to be brought under the remit ofthe PCC after it ruled in February 2011 that information posted on Twitter should be considered public andpublishable by newspapers.[10]

The Code of PracticeAny member of the public, whether a relative unknown or a high-profile figure, is able to bring a complaint against apublication that had volunteered to meet the standards of the Code. Members of the Commission adjudicate whetherthe Code has indeed been broken, and, if so, suggest appropriate measures of correction. These have included theprinting of a factual correction, an apology or letters from the original complainant. The Commission does notimpose financial penalties on newspapers found to have broken the Code.Many publishers have added clauses to the contracts of editors of newspapers and magazines giving them the optionto dismiss editors who are judged to have breached the PCC Code of Practice. The PCC and its adherents claim thatby attaching personal significance to the role of the PCC in the editors' mind, its role has become more effective.The section titles of the code of practice on which judgements are made are as follows:[11]

“1) Accuracyi) The Press must take care not to publish inaccurate, misleading or distorted information, including pictures.ii) A significant inaccuracy, misleading statement or distortion once recognised must be corrected, promptly andwith due prominence, and – where appropriate – an apology published. In cases involving the Commission,prominence should be agreed with the PCC in advance.iii) The Press, whilst free to be partisan, must distinguish clearly between comment, conjecture and fact.

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iv) A publication must report fairly and accurately the outcome of an action for defamation to which it has been aparty, unless an agreed settlement states otherwise, or an agreed statement is published.2) Opportunity to replyA fair opportunity for reply to inaccuracies must be given when reasonably called for.3) Privacy *i) Everyone is entitled to respect for his or her private and family life, home, health and correspondence, includingdigital communications.ii) Editors will be expected to justify intrusions into any individual's private life without consent. Account will betaken of the complainant's own public disclosures of information.iii) It is unacceptable to photograph individuals in private places without their consent.Note – Private places are public or private property where there is a reasonable expectation of privacy.

4) Harassment *i) Journalists must not engage in intimidation, harassment or persistent pursuit.ii) They must not persist in questioning, telephoning, pursuing or photographing individuals once asked to desist; norremain on their property when asked to leave and must not follow them. If requested, they must identify themselvesand whom they represent.iii) Editors must ensure these principles are observed by those working for them and take care not to usenon-compliant material from other sources.5) Intrusion into grief or shocki) In cases involving personal grief or shock, enquiries and approaches must be made with sympathy and discretionand publication handled sensitively. This should not restrict the right to report legal proceedings, such as inquests.*ii) When reporting suicide, care should be taken to avoid excessive detail about the method used.6) Children*i) Young people should be free to complete their time at school without unnecessary intrusion.ii) A child under 16 must not be interviewed or photographed on issues involving their own or another child’swelfare unless a custodial parent or similarly responsible adult consents.iii) Pupils must not be approached or photographed at school without the permission of the school authorities.iv) Minors must not be paid for material involving children’s welfare, nor parents or guardians for material abouttheir children or wards, unless it is clearly in the child's interest.v) Editors must not use the fame, notoriety or position of a parent or guardian as sole justification for publishingdetails of a child’s private life.7) Children in sex cases *1. The press must not, even if legally free to do so, identify children under 16 who are victims or witnesses in casesinvolving sex offences.2. In any press report of a case involving a sexual offence against a child –i) The child must not be identified.ii) The adult may be identified.iii) The word "incest" must not be used where a child victim might be identified.iv) Care must be taken that nothing in the report implies the relationship between the accused and the child.8) Hospitals *i) Journalists must identify themselves and obtain permission from a responsible executive before enteringnon-public areas of hospitals or similar institutions to pursue enquiries.

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ii) The restrictions on intruding into privacy are particularly relevant to enquiries about individuals in hospitals orsimilar institutions.9) Reporting of Crime *(i) Relatives or friends of persons convicted or accused of crime should not generally be identified without theirconsent, unless they are genuinely relevant to the story. (ii) Particular regard should be paid to the potentiallyvulnerable position of children who witness, or are victims of, crime. This should not restrict the right to report legalproceedings.10) Clandestine devices and subterfuge *i) The press must not seek to obtain or publish material acquired by using hidden cameras or clandestine listeningdevices; or by intercepting private or mobile telephone calls, messages or emails; or by the unauthorised removal ofdocuments or photographs; or by accessing digitally-held private information without consent.ii) Engaging in misrepresentation or subterfuge, including by agents or intermediaries, can generally be justified onlyin the public interest and then only when the material cannot be obtained by other means.11) Victims of sexual assaultThe press must not identify victims of sexual assault or publish material likely to contribute to such identificationunless there is adequate justification and they are legally free to do so.12) Discriminationi) The press must avoid prejudicial or pejorative reference to an individual's race, colour, religion, gender, sexualorientation or to any physical or mental illness or disability.ii) Details of an individual's race, colour, religion, sexual orientation, physical or mental illness or disability must beavoided unless genuinely relevant to the story.13) Financial journalismi) Even where the law does not prohibit it, journalists must not use for their own profit financial information theyreceive in advance of its general publication, nor should they pass such information to others.ii) They must not write about shares or securities in whose performance they know that they or their close familieshave a significant financial interest without disclosing the interest to the editor or financial editor.iii) They must not buy or sell, either directly or through nominees or agents, shares or securities about which theyhave written recently or about which they intend to write in the near future.14) Confidential sourcesJournalists have a moral obligation to protect confidential sources of information.15) Witness payments in criminal trialsi) No payment or offer of payment to a witness - or any person who may reasonably be expected to be called as awitness – should be made in any case once proceedings are active as defined by the Contempt of Court Act 1981.This prohibition lasts until the suspect has been freed unconditionally by police without charge or bail or theproceedings are otherwise discontinued; or has entered a guilty plea to the court; or, in the event of a not guilty plea,the court has announced its verdict.*ii) Where proceedings are not yet active but are likely and foreseeable, editors must not make or offer payment toany person who may reasonably be expected to be called as a witness, unless the information concerned oughtdemonstrably to be published in the public interest and there is an over-riding need to make or promise payment forthis to be done; and all reasonable steps have been taken to ensure no financial dealings influence the evidence thosewitnesses give. In no circumstances should such payment be conditional on the outcome of a trial.*iii) Any payment or offer of payment made to a person later cited to give evidence in proceedings must be disclosedto the prosecution and defence. The witness must be advised of this requirement.

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16 Payment to criminals *i) Payment or offers of payment for stories, pictures or information, which seek to exploit a particular crime or toglorify or glamorise crime in general, must not be made directly or via agents to convicted or confessed criminals orto their associates – who may include family, friends and colleagues.ii) Editors invoking the public interest to justify payment or offers would need to demonstrate that there was goodreason to believe the public interest would be served. If, despite payment, no public interest emerged, then thematerial should not be published.There may be exceptions to the clauses marked * where they can be demonstrated to be in the public interest.1. The public interest includes, but is not confined to:i) Detecting or exposing crime or serious impropriety.ii) Protecting public health and safety.iii) Preventing the public from being misled by an action or statement of an individual or organisation.2. There is a public interest in freedom of expression itself. (Article 10 of the Human Rights Act 1998)3. Whenever the public interest is invoked, the PCC will require editors to demonstrate fully that they reasonablybelieved that publication, or journalistic activity undertaken with a view to publication, would be in the publicinterest and how, and with whom, that was established at the time.4. The PCC will consider the extent to which material is already in the public domain, or will become so.5. In cases involving children under 16, editors must demonstrate an exceptional public interest to over-ride thenormally paramount interest of the child.”It is worth noting that reporting restrictions imposed by judges take precedence over the PCC's code. For example,under the Sexual Offences Act 1993, victims (even alleged victims) of sexual offences have lifetime anonymity. Thismeans that a newspaper cannot print any particulars leading to the identification of a sexual offence victim.

CriticismIn 2001, Labour MP Clive Soley said that "other regulatory bodies are far stronger, far more pro-active and really dorepresent the consumer. There are no consumer rights people on the PCC and that is a major failing".[12]

Journalist Nick Davies criticized the PCC for failing to investigate the vast majority of complaints on technicalgrounds in his book Flat Earth News (2008), an expose of modern British newspaper journalism. The MediaWiseTrust, a charitable organisation set up to help people in their dealings with the press says that the self-regulationsystem has proved to help the rich but not the poor.[citation needed]

Phone hackingIn February 2010 the Commission was described as "toothless"[13] by the House of Commons Culture, Media andSport Select Committee investigating the News of the World phone hacking affair.During a House of Commons emergency debate into the same affair on 6 July 2011, MPs described the PCC as'well-meaning but a joke', and as much use as 'a chocolate teapot'.In a press conference on 8 July 2011, Prime Minister David Cameron described the PCC as 'inadequate' and 'absent'during the phone hacking affair, and implied that the organisation would have to be reformed or replaced.

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Self-regulationThe 2009 British investigative documentary Starsuckers exposed the request to obtain medical records of celebritiesby many of the red-top UK tabloids, and the lack of PCC action against the papers that had broken the PCC charter.[]

The tabloids ran the bogus stories about the likes of Amy Winehouse, Pixie Geldof and Guy Ritchie. Secretlyinterviewed reporters claimed that "the PCC is run by the newspaper Editors", "Getting a PCC isn't great, but, a lot ofpapers just brush it aside, all it is, is a little apology somewhere in the paper, you get a slap on the wrist, you getreported by the PCC, but there's no money".[14][15] The PCC took no action against the papers that ran these storiesbut did respond with a letter to the Editor of The Belfast Telegraph.[16] The response of Chris Atkins, thedocumentary's director, was that the PCC had yet still not acted on the issue of several newspapers breaking theirCode of conduct 8.2.[]

“The restrictions on intruding into privacy are particularly relevant to enquiries about individuals in hospitals or similar institutions.”FundingOn 24 August 2011, the New Left Project published an article[17] by Julian Petley, arguing that the PCC is "not, andnever has been, a regulator": he presents the case that the PCC is the equivalent of the customer services departmentof any large corporate organisation, responding to customer complaints for most of the British press. The PCCresponded to this article[18] on their own website, asserting that the PCC is a regulatory organisation which veryregularly intervenes "proactively and pre-publication to prevent tabloid and broadsheet stories appearing" andJonathan Collett asserts that this method has an "almost 100% success rate". Petley responded to Collett in the NewLeft Project on 26 August,[19] asserting that the PCC "lacks sufficient sanctions to be able to punish effectively thosewho breach its Code" and that the problem is not the PCC but its funding (See Press Standards Board of Finance.)

References[1] Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport Minutes of Evidence (http:/ / www. publications. parliament. uk/ pa/ cm200203/ cmselect/

cmcumeds/ 458/ 3032514. htm), House of Commons, 25 March 2003, Appendix XIX. Retrieved on 9 July 2007.[8] PCC.org (http:/ / www. pcc. org. uk/ news/ index. html?article=Njg3NA==)[11] http:/ / www. pcc. org. uk/ cop/ practice. html[13] The Guardian, 24 February 2010, MPs' verdict on News of the World phone-hacking scandal: Amnesia, obfuscation and hush money (http:/

/ www. guardian. co. uk/ media/ 2010/ feb/ 24/ phone-hacking-scandal-mps-report)

External links• PCC homepage (http:/ / www. pcc. org. uk/ )

• The Code of Practice under which the PCC makes its decisions (http:/ / www. pcc. org. uk/ cop/ practice. html)• Recent adjudications of the PCC (published into the public domain) (http:/ / www. pcc. org. uk/ cases/

adjudicated. html)• Press Complaints Commission (http:/ / www. guardian. co. uk/ media/ pcc) collected news and commentary at

The Guardian• Battle to raise standards (http:/ / news. bbc. co. uk/ 1/ hi/ uk/ 1157911. stm), BBC News, 7 February 2001, report

on the first ten years of the PCC• The MediaWise Trust (http:/ / www. mediawise. org. uk)

Article Sources and Contributors 7

Article Sources and ContributorsPress Complaints Commission  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=552349088  Contributors: ASmartKid, Al Lemos, Bfinn, BigPimpinBrah, Bongwarrior, Brilliantine, Bwithh,Chendy, Cloudbound, Contaldo80, DadaNeem, Dcpreston1990, Dubmill, Ebelular, Esperant, Eztoremember, Fabiform, Ferkelparade, Frederikaw, Gaius Cornelius, Ganstickerly, Ground Zero,Gscshoyru, Gymnophoria, Helenalex, Hughcharlesparker, Ibagli, Imagine Reason, January, JenLouise, John, Jrouters, KAMiKAZOW, KHirsch, Kurt Shaped Box, Lord Emsworth, Loren.wilton,Lotje, Magioladitis, Mandarax, Maxis ftw, Mxwjci, Nanonic, Nricardo, Omicronpersei8, PCCLIES, Pcb21, Pcpcpc, Philip Cross, Raining girl, Rangoon11, Rima.saini, Rjwilmsi, Rrburke, Sitush,Talrias, Tim!, Tom Edwards, Tony1, TreasuryTag, Wavelength, Wickifrank, Woohookitty, Yonmei, Z6q.jmr, 62 anonymous edits

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