Complaints and the Code

It is important to remember that not all complaints that are made to the Commission concern matters that fall under the Code – some are about advertisements, matters of taste and decency and so on. Many are made by people who wish to register their general concern about a particular piece of reporting that does not affect them personally. Despite the considerable administrative burden, however, the Commission is happy to fulfil an important function in acting as a conduit through which the views of readers can be transmitted to editors.

But the Commission’s main job is to consider complaints from ordinary members of the public who for some reason are caught up in the media spotlight – or to investigate other matters such as complaints about general points of accuracy, or payments to criminals or witnesses. Complaints upon which the Commission could make a ruling under the Code represented about a third of the overall total. The table on the right shows under which clauses these complaints were made. The proportion about accuracy, intrusion and discrimination was very similar to last year – at 56%, 25% and 17% respectively. Table 2

Investigated complaints

Not all complaints which can be ruled on are found to raise a breach of the Code. Nonetheless, formal investigations are necessary in hundreds of cases each year where it appears that there are issues to consider under the Code. It is here that the main burden of the Commission’s work falls. Interestingly, the proportion of investigated complaints against the national and regional press is exactly the same at around 41%, while 8.7% of investigations were into the Scottish press, 2.4% into the publications of Northern Ireland and 6.7% into magazines. Table 3

Time taken to deal with complaints

The overall time taken to deal with all complaints – whether or not they fell under the Code – was just 17 days last year. However, the Commission’s preferred measure is to consider the number of days it took to handle complaints upon which it could make a ruling. This was 34 days in 2003 – well within the Commission’s self-imposed target of 40 days and in line with the figures for recent years.

Lawyers and delay

It is worth noting, however, that rulings on complaints that were made through solicitors took on average 50% longer to be made. The Commission believes that it is important for potential complainants to bear this in mind when considering how they wish to make a complaint. The Commission sets great store by being ‘fast, free and fair’. When lawyers become involved in the process it ceases to be particularly fast – and it is certainly not free. It should be noted that having legal representation will not improve a complainant’s chances of success. The Commission’s ability to resolve complaints is based on whether or not there has been a breach of the Code, not on whether or not the complainant is represented by a third party.

Discrimination complaints – a complicated situation

The Commission again received a relatively high number of discrimination complaints in 2003 – 586, or 19.8% of the total. While this represents a small overall increase proportionally, it is important to put these statistics into context. Clause 13 – which is designed to protect individuals from prejudiced remarks in articles about them – attracts a very high number of complaints from people who simply wish to register their disapproval of a news item that does not personally affect them. For instance, a cartoon of the Israeli Prime Minister published in one national newspaper attracted 90 complaints, while 128 people contacted the Commission to complain about a reference in a tabloid newspaper to a well-known sportsman who had been unwell.

In such instances, the Commission will always find out whether the person concerned wishes to make a complaint – but it must be a matter for them to decide whether to take things forward.

Once these sorts of multiple complaints about the same article are taken into account, the number of discrete issues complained about under Clause 13 falls to just 6% of the total. Moreover, this figure also includes a large number of complaints about general issues to do with a newspaper’s editorial stance on controversial subjects such as immigration. Such subjects may arouse strongly divergent views, but, providing they are presented in accordance with the Code’s provisions on accuracy, do not normally involve a breach of the Code.

The number of complaints about discrimination against named individuals that the Commission had to investigate under Clause 13 was low – just 24.

Customer satisfaction

Throughout 2003, the Commission continued to survey the views of people whose complaints it had investigated. 414 people returned the anonymous form. The figures showed a steady improvement in customer satisfaction, with:

• 96% of people who had complained about a possible breach of the Code saying that they were satisfied or very satisfied with the way that their complaint had been handled;
• 78% of respondents saying that the time taken to deal with their complaint was about right – up from 73% in 2002;
• 85% of complainants finding that the PCC’s staff were either helpful or very helpful; and
• 62% overall considering that their complaint had been handled satisfactorily or very satisfactorily. This is up from 59% in 2002, and includes those cases where the Commission found no breach of the Code.
  While the Commission will always look for ways to improve, it is pleased that this survey reveals that its customers’ experience is generally positive.

Conciliated complaints

Much is rightly made of the Commission’s success in resolving disputes. The Commission recognises that there will be some cases where only an adjudication is appropriate, but on the whole it believes that its role is to negotiate amicable settlements to cases where possible. This also reflects the modern approach to litigation. It is therefore satisfying to report that while there was a 7% rise in the number of possible breaches of the Code, there was a much larger jump of 20% in the number of cases that were successfully resolved by the Commission’s team of complaints officers. Moreover, editors offered to resolve 96% of cases where there was a likely breach of the Code. This is more than just a strong tribute to th eir commitment to self-regulation – it also underlines that the critical adjudication is a powerful sanction which focuses minds on the need to conciliate matters swiftly. Table 4

Privacy complaints

The Commission made 271 rulings on complaints made under the 8 different privacy clauses last year. Analysis of these complaints explodes the myth that privacy solely concerns famous people complaining about tabloid newspapers. 50% of the privacy rulings related to the regional press last year, with a further 14% relating to Scottish newspapers and 5% for magazines. 2% were about Northern Irish publications. Just 28% concerned national newspapers of all types. The Commission believes that this reflects in part the special position of regional newspapers, which frequently have the highest circulations of any newspaper in their local communities. The impact of a perceived intrusion may therefore feel greater in such cases.

Table 5

Table 6