Press Complaints Commission Annual Report

The Press Complaints Commission is Britain's version of the Australian Press Council. To alert readers to the similarities and differences, we extract some relevant passages from the PCC's 1995 Annual Report.

The PCC offers a service which is open to every person in the UK without any cost to the taxpayer or to those complaining. (Lord Wakeham, PCC Chairman.)

Complaints

The Commission received 2,508 complaints in 1995 - an increase of nearly 30 per cent on 1994. This is a welcome sign of growing public awareness of the PCC and the service it offers.

Complaints which raise possible breaches of the Code are forwarded immediately to the editor of the publication concerned with a request that the complaint be investigated and resolved within a few days. Most complaints are settled in this way - usually by the publication of an apology or correction, or from an opportunity for the complainant to reply.

The minority of complaints which cannot be resolved in this way are comprehensively investigated by the Commission itself which adjudicates between the two parties.

In 1995 - as in previous years - all critical adjudications were published in full and with due prominence by the publications involved.

The Code

The work of the Commission rests on a comprehensive Code of Practice which provides ethical guidelines to editors and journalists.

All editors and publishers in Britain have declared their commitment to this Code, which was originally drafted in 1990 by a special committee of editors drawn from all parts of the industry.

The Commission welcomes the increasing trend, which was reinforced in 1995, for publishers to include the Code in the contracts of employment of their editors and journalists.

The Code is kept under scrutiny by a Committee under the chairmanship of Sir David English.

Key statistics

Of the complaints investigated by the PCC in 1995, 413 were either resolved directly with the publication concerned as a result of the Commission's intervention or not pursued by the complainant. The Commission adjudicated on a further 63 and, of these, it upheld 28 complaints.

Some 800 complaints from members of the public fell outside the PCC's remit including those relating to advertising material, matters of taste or contractual disputes. A small number were third party complaints which could not be pursued, or complaints which were disallowed because of unjustifiable delay. In the remainder of the complaints received, there was no case to pursue under the Code of Practice.

Accuracy

As in previous years, about 7 in 10 of the complaints received by the PCC in 1995 related to accuracy in press reporting. The vast majority of these cases were resolved directly with the publication concerned and to the satisfaction of the complainants.

Where such breaches of the Code have taken place, editors have corrected inaccuracies promptly and with due prominence.

Privacy

Although only 12 per cent of the complaints received by the Commission in 1995 related to intrusion into privacy, the task of ensuring that the provisions of the Code protecting the private lives of individuals are upheld is at the heart of the PCC's work.

The PCC therefore has a special Commissioner - Professor Robert Pinker - to investigate these complaints.

The Commission is especially vigilant in cases involving intrusion into privacy, and brings instances of severe or calculated breach of the Code to the attention of publishers in order that the need for appropriate disciplinary action may be considered.

In 1995, there was one such case when the proprietor of a national Sunday tabloid strongly rebuked its editor in public for publishing a story which clearly invaded the privacy of an individual without any public interest defence.

Raising public awareness of the PCC

Crucial to the work of the Commission is the need to ensure that members of the public are aware of the service it offers. In order to achieve this, the Commission continues to undertake a number of initiatives to publicise its services and its achievements.

In 1995 these included:

• regular regional tours by the Chairman ... and speeches [by him];
• continuing wide distribution of a How to Complain leaflet;
• advertisements in newspapers and magazines, in space generously donated by publishers;
• an exhibition roadshow touring public libraries throughout the regions;
• participation in conferences organised by such bodies as Victims Support, Citizens Advice Bureaux, the Police and other groups; and
• widespread distribution of literature.

Training

The PCC has an important role to play in providing material on self regulation and the Code of Practice for trainee journalists.

As a matter of routine, the PCC Chairman, members and staff continued in 1995 to lecture extensively to universities, colleges and in-house training schemes for journalists across the country.

From March 1995, the rules of accreditation for university and college courses affiliated to the National Council for the Training of Journalists have required that 'all tutors must satisfy themselves that students have a working knowledge of the Code of Practice.'

see also
The Press Complaints Commission website

Privacy and the Press - Lord Wakeham's APC Fellow's address

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