Statistics and review of the year

Complaints received

The PCC received 2,225 complaints in 2000 - just slightly fewer than in the previous year, but broadly in line with the recent average. The trend in the number of complaints received - which peaked at over 3,000 in 1996 as a result of a substantial number of complaints about coverage of the Euro '96 football championships - is set out in Table 1.

The publications concerned

Of the total number of complaints received, 44% were about national daily and Sunday newspapers - the smallest proportion about such publications in recent years. A further 34% were about regional newspapers, with 10% about publications special to Scotland. 7% were about periodicals. The remaining 5% were principally about agencies and publications special to Northern Ireland. This is set out in Table 2.

The Code

As in previous years, the clear majority of complaints - some 58% - were about accuracy in reporting, and were raised under Clause 1 (Accuracy) and 2 (Opportunity to Reply) of the Code of Practice. However, this is the lowest proportion of complaints about inaccuracy in the last ten years.

About one in eight complaints - very similar to previous years - were about intrusion into privacy. Just over 10% of complaints were about discrimination - the highest level in recent years. The number of complaints about the reporting of children has been growing steadily - from just 1% in 1997 (before major revisions to the Code in this area were made) to just under 5% in 2000. These statistics are set out in more detail in Table 3
and Table 4

The outcome

With every complaint it receives, the Commission's main aim is to try and get it sorted quickly, amicably and to the satisfaction of the complainant. We continued to achieve substantial success in that aim in 2000 - with an impressive proportion of those complaints where there was a prima facie breach of the Code being resolved.

About one third of the complaints made to us turned out to be outside of the Commission's remit. Some of these were complaints made by third parties, or were disallowed because of an unjustifiable delay.

Following investigation, in just under 40% of the complaints no breach of the Code was established, or no remaining breach after an editor offered an appropriate remedy.

The Commission had to adjudicate on just 57 complaints - upholding 24 and rejecting 33.

As Table 5 illustrates, the remainder were either resolved directly, or not pursued following an explanation from the newspaper concerned or a letter from the Commission. Excluding those cases where no breach (or no remaining breach) of the Code was established, this means that some 90% were either resolved or not pursued.

Prince William - life after school

One of the great strengths of self regulation has always been the special protection afforded by the Code to children - whether they are famous in their own right, or the children of ordinary families. The most high profile illustration of this has been the exemplary manner in which newspapers and magazines, almost without exception, have respected the privacy of the Royal Princes while they have been at school.

This respect for their privacy has been firmly based on the Code of Practice - and applies as much to all children as it does to Princes William and Harry.

Prince William left Eton in the summer of 2000, and Lord Wakeham took the opportunity to set out new guidelines - again based firmly on the Code - relating to newspaper coverage of him in the future. Setting these out, Lord Wakeham made clear that the behaviour of all publications had to date been -

"a substantial success - and provided the boys with a degree of personal privacy that I suspect none of their forebears received. For that, enormous credit must go to editors of all national and local newspapers and periodicals, and to their reporters as well. By respecting the privacy of these children, they have shown how the Code works, and how importantly editors take the work of the PCC. It has certainly confounded the detractors of self regulation. Some of them said that it would never work, that the children would be hounded. They were all wrong."

Lord Wakeham highlighted four key principles to guide newspapers in the future - again making clear that these principles related as much to any other child as to Prince William:

• no photographs of Prince William taken in private places - that is, places where there is a reasonable expectation of privacy - should be published;
• as with any young person, Prince William is entitled to expect that what is written about him - and his friends and colleagues - is accurate;
• he is entitled to respect for his private life - such as home and family life, telephone calls, health matters and correspondence;
• he should be able to go about his daily life free from physical intrusion or harassment - and under no circumstances should pictures of him obtained as a result of intimidation or persistent pursuit be published.

On the back of these guidelines - a full copy of which is available on the PCC website - the Commission upheld a complaint against one magazine for publishing pictures taken of Prince William in Chile which had been obtained as a result of such pursuit.

Financial journalism

During the year, the Commission considered complaints about financial journalism and the practice of share tipping on one national newspaper.

The Commission completed the investigation of these complex complaints within ten weeks - far quicker than could have happened in any form of legal system. While there were a number of legal issues outside its remit, the PCC found some serious breaches of Clause 14 (Financial journalism) of the Code. In its adjudication the Commission made clear that:

"It is most important that the public should have confidence in the independence of financial journalists and newspaper editors when they give advice, which means that any financial interest should always be fully disclosed. If Clause 14 had been scrupulously observed, then none of the difficulties which arise in this case would have occurred."

In upholding the complaint the Commission found that "the editor's conduct... had fallen short of the high professional standards demanded by the Code" and in light of the seriousness of the matter formally registered its concern with the newspaper's publisher.

Children in the public eye

A number of issues arose during the year about the treatment of the children of some public figures. In some important adjudications - including on complaints from the Prime Minister and Mrs Blair about coverage of their son, from Noel Gallagher about a story relating to his infant child, and from the sister of a well known fashion designer about photographs of her daughter - the Commission laid down important principles. These adjudications underlined that the key to the issue is whether coverage of a child - including the use of pictures - damages the welfare of that child. In its adjudication on the complaint from the sister of the well known fashion designer, the Commission ruled that:

"Clause 6 of the Code does not require editors to seek consent from those responsible for children before publishing any photograph of a child under the age of 16. If the Code was interpreted in this highly restrictive manner it would mean that no pictures of children, no matter how innocuous, could be published without consent. That is clearly not what the Code is intended to do. Instead, the Code requires editors to seek such consent before interviewing or photographing children under the age of 16 'on subjects involving the welfare of the child'. As the photographs were clearly taken in a public place the Commission's task was to consider only whether the photographs involved or affected the welfare of the child. The Commission concluded that they did not. The mere publication of a child's image, unaccompanied by details of its private life, when he or she is in a public place could not be held by the Commission to breach the Code."

Mental health

Over the years, the Commission has undertaken several initiatives designed to raise standards of reporting on issues relating to mental health and persons suffering from mental illness. In February 2000, Lord Wakeham delivered a keynote speech on the subject in which he made clear the Commission's commitment to tackling discrimination in this area - and the reasons why it was important:

"At any one time, one adult in six suffers from one or other form of mental illness. That makes mental illness - whether it be in its more frequent form as depression, or a very much more severe and mercifully rarer illness such as schizophrenia - as common as asthma. But whereas we understand something like asthma, and do not fear its consequences, mental illness is still widely misunderstood - and widely feared. And there is only one way to tackle public fear and misunderstanding - that is, inevitably, through the media.

"So for that reason alone the relationship between the media, those suffering from mental illness, and those caring for them is a crucial one that needs to be got right. In that the Press Complaints Commission has a role to play - and it is one I am proud to champion. Discrimination in any of its ugly forms - on grounds of sex or sexual orientation, of race, or of mental illness - has no place in a modern society. And it certainly has no place in the media" (London, 15th February 2000).

Payments to criminals

In a number of landmark adjudications over the last three years, the Commission has set out important jurisprudence on the issue of when it is and is not acceptable to make payments to convicted criminals and their associates. The PCC applied this guidance in an important case in 2000 when it investigated payments by one national newspaper for the serialisation of a book by the convicted perjurer Jonathan Aitken. In rejecting the complaint, the Commission ruled that there was public interest in the serialisation and that:

"had the Commission upheld the complaint it would have effectively held that the Code should have prohibited the payment for - and therefore publication of - the articles. This would have been to ignore powerful arguments in favour of freedom of expression that are enshrined both in the Code and also in law."

The "naming and shaming" of paedophiles

There was substantial controversy in 2000 over the campaign by one national newspaper, in the wake of the tragic murder of Sarah Payne, to "name and shame" convicted paedophiles. The Commission received several complaints directly from some of the individuals involved, a number of which it was able to resolve. As a result, the PCC felt it would be helpful to hold discussions with the Association of Chief Officers of Probation and others involved in the care and rehabilitation of offenders. Those discussions remain underway at the time of publication of this Review and the PCC intends to provide some general guidance about this issue at their conclusion.

Science reporting

Following a report from the House of Lords Select Committee on the issue of how science matters are reported in the media, the Commission held discussions on this subject with The Royal Society and the Social Issues Research Centre (SIRC). Following these discussions, SIRC produced a number of guidelines for newspapers and practitioners about this matter, which were welcomed at the time of their publication by Lord Wakeham. He said: "Central to the newspaper and magazine Code of Practice is the issue of accuracy in reporting. Under that Code, publications must take care to be accurate - and also ensure they differentiate clearly between comment, conjecture and fact. The publication of SIRC's Guidelines underlines the importance of those rules in regard to reporting of scientific and medical stories. I welcome them as a constructive and positive contribution in this crucial area."

PCC on-line

The Commission has maintained a website - www.pcc.org.uk - since 1996 to make available to members of the public details of the Commission's work and the Code. The website was thoroughly overhauled in 2000 - including the introduction of a new on-line complaints form to enable members of the public to complain to the PCC via e mail.

Training and education

The Commission continued in 2000 to be active both in the training of journalists and in publicising the work of the PCC among particularly vulnerable groups of people. As in previous years, a great deal of the Commission's training work was undertaken by Professor Pinker, who delivered over 20 lectures to colleges and Universities in 2000. We are most grateful to him for the time and care he devotes to this task.

Among those groups targeted for special work to publicise the service of the PCC and the application of the Code were refugees and asylum seekers, Travellers' groups and some schools and local education authorities.

The Code in action - raising standards

Many complaints of substance received by the PCC where there is a potential breach of the Code are amicably resolved between the editor and complainant following the intervention of the Commission. As the report on page X shows, these resolved complaints set about raising standards in their own way.

However, a number of complaints each year need to be adjudicated - either because a potential breach of the Code is involved and no resolution is possible, or because the Commission needs to lay down guidelines for the future. These have a powerful effect on standards of reporting - because they set an example to which editors adhere when similar issues arise subsequently. The Review of the Year sets out a number of these - including the landmark adjudication on financial journalism.

Other adjudications set out here were no less important - each of them helping to raise standards of reporting and add to the protection for particularly vulnerable groups of people.

Public figures - and the right to respect for privacy
A Sunday newspaper intruded into an actress's privacy when it published intimate details about her relationship with her former fiancé. In upholding the complaint, the Commission underlined that it would always bear in mind the extent to which complainants have previously put material about themselves into the public domain. In this case, however, the Commission was concerned that there was no proportionality between the material that had voluntarily been put into the public domain about her private life and the highly personal details that had been published.

Intrusion into grief and shock

A Scottish newspaper intruded into the grief of a television presenter when it published photographs of her attending her mother's funeral, even though she had made it clear that the occasion would be private. The Commission considered the lengths to which the complainant herself had gone to try to keep the funeral private and the fact that there had been no attempt to exploit it for publicity. Significantly, while the Commission normally believes that the prominence given to an article is a matter for editorial discretion, it decided in this case that the prominence had compounded the intrusion at this time of grief.

In another case, a regional newspaper breached the Code when it failed thoroughly to check the facts relating to the death of a local man in an air accident. The newspaper was relying on unofficial sources who were not present at the scene of the accident - and the Commission ruled that newspapers must take extra care to be accurate in cases involving the bereaved.

Protecting children

Three separate adjudications about national newspapers added to the Commission's jurisprudence regarding the rights of children to protection from intrusion. The three separate complaints all related to children under the age of 16 who were at parties without their parents.

The Commission underlined in each case that party organisers are in no position to give permission for photographs to be taken or interviews to be carried out. It also ruled that children could still expect the protection of the Code if they were at commercially-organised events, where the party organisers were seeking publicity.

Patients in hospital

A regional newspaper breached the Code when one of its journalists failed to identify himself to a responsible executive as he sought to interview a woman who was the subject of considerable media attention. The Commission emphasised that the clause on hospitals is designed to ensure the maximum possible protection for particularly vulnerable groups of people and that its provisions must be followed to the letter.

Resolving complaints

While some complaints end in adjudication, most substantial complaints are resolved without the need for a formal decision by the Commission about whether or not an article breached the Code.

A resolution to a complaint can come in a number of forms - most often a correction or apology for an inaccuracy or intrusion, a published letter in a newspaper from a complainant, a balancing article, or (on some occasions) a private letter from an editor to a complainant.

These resolved complaints are themselves also important in raising standards - because the editors involved carry out an investigation into why something went wrong and, in putting right, take action to ensure there will be no recurrence.

Set out here are a very small number of examples of resolved complaints from among those the Commission dealt with in 2000.

o One elderly lady complained when a picture of her late husband appeared in a story illustrating NHS waiting lists in a national newspaper. The publication concerned personally apologised to the complainant and gave an assurance that the photograph - which had been taken from a photo library - would never be re-used.

o A woman complained that the report in a national newspaper of the death of her son by suicide was inaccurate and intruded into the family's grief. The newspaper apologised to the complainant and, in resolving the complaint, made clear that they had reassessed how they would deal with such stories in the future as a result of this episode.

o A man from the North West complained that a local newspaper had identified him and stated his occupation and address in reporting the unrelated matter of his son's conviction for driving offences. The newspaper resolved the complaint by publishing an apology and reviewing its procedures.

o An MP complained that a diary piece in a national newspaper had intruded into her son's privacy. In resolving the complaint, the newspaper undertook to review its procedures to ensure no such breaches of the Code could recur.

o The proprietors of a residential home in Kent complained that a report in a local newspaper contained unsubstantiated allegations made by a former employee. The newspaper concerned resolved the complaint by publishing the conclusion of an inquiry into the home by social services, along with a statement from the complainants.