The Commission

The Press Complaints Commission is made up of both public – or lay – members, and senior newspaper and magazine editors. In the combination of the two of them lies the strength of the PCC and its common-sense approach to solving complaints. The public members – among whom is the PCC Chairman – are in the clear majority. This is to ensure that the Commission is demonstrably independent of the industry whose system of self regulation it is administering. To buttress this independence still further, all appointments are made by an Appointments Commission which itself is made up of a clear majority of individuals who have no connection with newspapers. Of five people on the Appointments Commission, only one – the Chairman of the Press Standards Board of Finance – has any connection with newspapers. The Appointments Commission is chaired by Professor Pinker. Apart from Sir Harry Roche, the Chairman of Pressbof, the lay members are:

• Lord Mayhew of Twysden QC (former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland);
• Mr David Clementi (Chairman, Prudential plc);and
• Baroness Smith of Gilmorehill (Chairman, Edinburgh Festival Fringe).

There have been a number of changes to the composition of the Commission since the publication of the Annual Review 2001. Sir Brian Cubbon, Lord Tordoff, Alison Hastings, Dominic Lawson and Phil Hall have retired from the Commission – and this is an appropriate place to record the debt of gratitude which the PCC owes them for their unstinting service and wise counsel. The Commission has welcomed in their place:

• Professor the Lord Chan, distinguished paediatrician, Professor in Ethnic Health at the University of Liverpool and a former member of the Commission for Racial Equality;
• Roger Alton, editor of The Observer;
• Paul Horrocks, editor of the Manchester Evening News; and
• Arzina Bhanji, former Director of the Royal London Hospitals NHS Trust. Mrs Bhanji has served on the Commission before and has kindly returned for a short period before a further appointment is made in the spring.
  

One editorial place remains vacant on the Commission at the time of publication of this Review.

The Commission Members