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Fewer Complaints and Greater Complacency
158/Chris Frost
The performance of the Press Complaints Commission under the microscope...
DATELINE: 30/7/07
Last year was a busy year for media regulators and the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) was no exception. Law change proposals, phone-tapping scandals, rows over data protection and freedom of information have kept PCC chairman Sir Christopher Meyer, the commissioners and his staff at their desks diligently earning their £927,208 in salaries and related costs.
Despite this, according to the PCC Annual Review 2006, the number of complaints made to the PCC fell in 2006. The number of complaints adjudicated also fell from 30 to 22 with only five of these being upheld. With figures like these, it is hardly surprising that the PCC report makes great play of the rise in the number of resolved complaints - up by 20 per cent to 418.
The PCC claims this is an illustration of a major culture change: "Editors now routinely offer meaningful resolutions to breaches of the code - and on occasion offer to resolve matters that may not in fact breach the Code." The PCC identifies this as an advantage of resolution rather than adjudication: "This is one of the advantages of a system of conciliation which brings parties together rather than having to make a judgement on who was right in each case."
The PCC now publishes resolutions on its website and picks key cases to run in the annual report having finally accepted the argument long made by critics, including the CPBF, that journalists and editors need to know the thinking of the PCC in operation of its code. "The Commission has an important function issuing formal public rulings through its adjudicated complaints. These have a number of uses: educating editors about the Commission's interpretation of the Code…" The PCC also "publishes details of each resolved complaint on its website homepage in order to give further visibility to the resolution…"
The Commission is at pains to point out it has dealt with a number of privacy cases - more than the courts - and claims this shows the significance of its rulings in this area. However, it is doubtful many editors would be able to quote the PCC's handful of significant rulings whilst the key court cases will be etched onto their proprietors' wallets.
There was a substantial reduction in the number of discrimination complaints made to the PCC during the past year. The number of complaints about discrimination has now fallen with only 2.6 per cent appearing as a potential breach of the code. This may be due to the PCC advising groups likely to complain under the discrimination clause that it might be better for them to complain under clause one - accuracy.
The report makes much of their evidence that corrections and apologies made tend to appear on the same page or earlier in the paper than the original mistake. However, the same argument can be made in reverse. 74 per cent of apologies and corrections appeared on the same page or further forward but about 70 per cent appeared on the same page or further back - 17 per cent of them more than five pages further back.
The Compliance Commission made several recommendations that were picked up by the PCC. It asked the PCC to write to editors about their behaviour, even when the problem was overtaken by events. It asked for the flowchart of how complaints were dealt with to be reinstated in the PCC's guidance leaflet to complainants, and asked for the time limit on complaints to be doubled from one to two months, something that substantially reduced the number of complaints dropping out of time.
It also pre-empted the DCMS select committee by agreeing to regulate audio and visual content on newspaper websites. They trumpeted the not surprising support for this move from proprietors as a major success, rather than the obvious attempt by cross media owners to get around much tougher regulation from Ofcom.
Sir Christopher Meyer said: "What the industry has done in announcing this extension of the PCC's remit is to underline its confidence in the system of common-sense regulation that we operate, and to demonstrate to the public that editorial information in the digital age - regardless of the format in which it is delivered - will be subject to high professional standards overseen by the Commission".
The PCC cryptically claims "It also means that newspaper and magazine websites are subject to a greater degree of regulation than those of broadcasters, which must wait for legislators to update existing rules." If by this it means Ofcom's reluctance to regulate broadcast websites in the way that parliament clearly expected, then it's a strange way of saying so. Ofcom's regulatory framework is tougher than the PCC's and likely to remain so. Its reluctance to regulate websites not identified with broadcasters mirrors that of the PCC.
The PCC claims to be fast, free and fair. Read that as slick, free and plausible and it may be that a Britain that seems to care little for a traditional watchdog free press has got the regulator it deserves.
Last modified: Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Previous press complaints commission stories
Submission to DCMS on press regulation
Press Complaints Commission widens its remit
Frankenstein Unbound?
CPBF writes to PCC on editors' code of conduct
A Pathetic Judgement
Slow and shoddy should be PCC slogan
PCC rejects CPBF Express complaint
CPBF launches complaint against Express
CPBF calls on PCC to open the books
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Notices
Events & Announcements
World Press Freedom Day
More reporters are currently imprisoned in Turkey than in any other country in the world. Only a matter of weeks ago lawyers failed to persuade a Turkish court to release a 76-year-old journalist from a Turkish internet news station.
World Press Freedom Day on Friday May 3, 2013 is being marked in Britain by a rally to highlight the dangers facing journalists in Turkey and in this podcast, Nicholas Jones speaks to Barry White, Organiser at the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, and Sam Bamford, the TUC's policy officer for Eastern Europe and Africa about the importance of a campaign to highlight international press freedom.
The World Press Freedom Day rally is being staged by the National Union of Journalists at the NUJ head office, Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1 on Thursday May 2, 6pm-8pm.
DATELINE: 27/4/13
UK launch of EU media campaign
DATELINE: 13/3/13
The UK launch of a 'European Citizens' Initiative' calling for EU rules against concentration of media power will take place on Thursday March 21 from 11:00am – 12:30pm in Committee Room 4A at the House of Lords, London. Guest speakers will include actor and activist Hugh Grant (pictured), media consultant Claire Enders, Professor Steven Barnett, Barry McCall (President of the NUJ) and Marc Gruber (Director of the European Federation of Journalists).
A European Citizens' Initiative is an official petition, like a Downing Street petition. If it succeeds in gathering a million signatures across the EU, the Commission is obliged to respond.
This petition calls for the EU to act to protect media pluralism and press freedom.
CPBF Annual General Meeting
DATELINE: 1/3/13
Make a note in your diary
Saturday 13 July 2013 from 10.00am
NUJ HQ, 308/312 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1.
Leveson, media ownership, CPBF future work.
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DATELINE: 26/3/10
Download Freepress in PDF, ePub or mobi format. Issue 194 now available.
MEDIA FOR ALL CONFERENCE
DATELINE: 26/3/10
Papers from the Media for All Conference
MEDIA MANIFESTO
DATELINE: 26/3/10
The media’s job is to inform and entertain us but we rely on them too to tell us what our rulers and representatives are up to. In the run-up to the Iraq war the government used spin and disinformation in the media to create panic and mislead people. The truth is coming out now, but we need stronger, more independent media to be able to scrutinise governments and make informed choices.
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Previous stories
Press Complaints Commission
Submission to DCMS on press regulation
Press Complaints Commission widens its remit
Frankenstein Unbound?
CPBF writes to PCC on editors' code of conduct
A Pathetic Judgement
Slow and shoddy should be PCC slogan
PCC rejects CPBF Express complaint
CPBF launches complaint against Express
CPBF calls on PCC to open the books
