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review of the year Complaints The PCC dealt with 3,023 complaints in 1996 - an increase of 20% on 1995 to a record level. Taken with a similar increase in the previous year, this was a sure sign of increasing public awareness of the PCC and recognition of its ability to provide swift and effective redress.A number of those complaints - for instance about matters of taste, or which raised legal or contractual issues - were outside the remit of the Commission. However, those which appeared to raise a possible breach of the Code were forwarded immediately to the editor concerned with a view to investigation and possible resolution. The vast majority of complaints were settled in this way. In the small number of cases where no resolution was possible, the Commission undertook a thorough investigation and then adjudicated. As in every previous year, all critical adjudications were published in full and with due prominence by the publication involved.
Of the complaints dealt with under the Code by the PCC in 1996, 393 - or more than eight in ten - were either resolved directly with the publication concerned as a result of the Commission's intervention or not pursued by the complainant. The Commission had to adjudicate on a further 81 complaints - and of these upheld 27 Some 306 complaints related to the coverage in a number of newspapers of the Euro '96 football championship.
Altogether, 819 complaints
from members of the public fell outside the PCC's remit -
almost exactly the same proportion as in 1995. A small number
were third party complaints that could not be pursued; and
110 were complaints that were disallowed because of unjustifiable
delay.
In the remainder of the complaints received, it was clear that there was no case to pursue under the Code of Practice Accuracy
Almost seven in ten of the
complaints received by the PCC in 1996 related principally
to accuracy in press reporting and were raised under the first
three Clauses of the Code - a similar proportion to previous
years. The majority of these complaints were resolved between
the publication concerned and the complainant without the
need for adjudication.
Although the proportion of
privacy complaints received by the Commission has been rising
slightly year on year - an indication that the public is aware
of the PCC's role in this area, and has confidence in its
ability to produce effective redress - privacy still accounts
for only a very small proportion of the total number of complaints
received. In 1996, only just over 1 in 8 of the complaints
received by the Commission related to privacy.
The PCC received 306 complaints relating to newspaper coverage of the Euro '96 football championships. After the investigation, the Commission did not find the industry's Code had been breached. In commenting on the complaints, however, members of the Commission joined in the widespread condemnation of the coverage - believing that editorial judgement by some newspapers had significantly misjudged the public mood.
The newspaper and magazine
industry's Code of Practice is the foundation stone on which
the PCC's work is built. All editors and publishers remain
vigorously committed to the Code
of Practice. The public interest
In October 1996, Lord Wakeham
warned editors in a letter to The Times that there was a danger
that the over-use of the public interest defence in the Code
could undermine effective self regulation. That effectiveness,
he said, depended on public credibility and sound editorial
judgement, but would suffer if there was injudicious reporting
of the private lives of individuals 'backed up only by the
flimsiest of public interest defences'.
One of the issues tackled
during 1996 was the question of cash payments for witnesses
- responding to some public concern about media reporting
of the Rosemary West murder trail. At the instigation of the
Commission, significant changes were made to the Code - as
the Chairman of the Code Committee reports
The record number of complaints
received in 1996 showed that the public is aware of the PCC
and has confidence in its ability to provide swift and effective
redress for breaches of the Code. However, in an initiative
designed to make the Commission even more accessible, the
PCC has adopted a
Complainants' Charter that sets out
key standards of service targets. Race in the media
In April 1996, Lord Wakeham addressed
the Commission for Racial Equality's Race in the Media Awards. In
his Speech, he set out the role of the media in tackling prejudice
and intolerance. He made clear that 'readers today will not tolerate
newspapers that treat racial minorities in an offensive manner.
And nor will the PCC.'
In 1996, solicitors acting for Ian Brady, a convicted
murderer who is now a patient in Ashworth Hospital, sought
leave to bring proceedings for a judicial review of the Commission's
decision to reject a complaint lodged by Mr Brady against
an article in The Sun. The Commission does not accept that
it is subject to judicial review by the Court, but two Judges
in the Queen's Bench Divisional Court and three in the Court
of Appeal headed by Lord Woolf, Master of the Rolls, felt
able to determine the substance of the matter in favour of
the PCC without deciding the question of jurisdiction. In rejecting the application for leave, Lord Woolf made it clear that the Court endorsed the Commission's robust, common sense approach to decisions under the Code of Practice rather than any alternative narrow technical interpretation
In recent years, the PCC has
played an increasing role in the training of trainee journalists
- both by providing material on self regulation and through
extensive lectures to universities, colleges and others. These
were undertaken by the PCC Chairman, The Privacy Commissioner
- Professor Pinker (who delivered 18 training lectures in
the UK - a commitment of time and effort for which the Commission
is very grateful) and members of staff.
It remains very important that the public
is aware of the service offered by the PCC, and that this service
is accessible and flexible. The Commission has undertaken a range
of activities to publicise its services and in 1996 re-launched
its literature - in particular a reworded and simplified How to
Complain leaflet. This fulfilled one of the recommendations in the
White Paper on Privacy and Media Intrusion
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