Raising Awareness

Open Days

The Commission holds two Open Days a year in major towns and cities in the UK to raise awareness of its work. In 2004, events were held in Edinburgh and Cardiff. Everyone – members of the public, journalism students, editors, local politicians and those who give professional advice – is invited. During the afternoon, the Commission’s complaints officers hold an informal ‘surgery’, where people who may have a specific problem can come for discreet advice. Following this there is a more formal ‘Question Time’, with the audience invited to submit questions on any subject related to press ethics or the PCC. Sir Christopher Meyer chairs the panel, which also includes members of the Commission, its director, and a newspaper editor. The Commission was very grateful to David Pollington, editor of the Sunday Post, and Alun Edmunds, editor of the Western Mail, for agreeing to be the editorial members of the panels in Edinburgh and Cardiff respectively.

Similar events are planned for Belfast and Newcastle in 2005.

Anticipating problems

Many of the complaints that the Commission receives come from ordinary members of the public who are caught up in a story through no fault or choice of their own. This may be because of their proximity to an unusual death or crime, whether as a victim or a witness. Complaints about inquest reports are common. It is therefore essential that people who are in this situation are informed that newspapers will normally have the right to report inquests and court hearings, but that there are nonetheless particular rules about how stories should be handled. They should also be aware that they can approach the PCC for advice or to make a complaint.

To that end, the director of the Commission wrote to every coroner and police force with details about how to make a complaint, with a request that the information be made available to vulnerable members of the public. He also addressed the annual Victim Support Conference, and the annual gathering of the Association of Police Public Relations Officers. Specific meetings were also arranged between members of the PCC’s staff and the Scottish Police Family Liaison Officers, Suffolk and Derbyshire police, and with the Chief Constables of North Wales and Merseyside Police.

The Commission’s External Affairs Manager, Sue Roberts, had a series of meetings with representatives of community and special interest groups, including the Refugee Council, ICAR and the Irish Travellers Group. She also met Strategic Health Authorities throughout the country.

PCC around the UK

Much of the Commission’s work – city Open Days, conferences, round-table meetings with interested parties, training sessions for journalists and students, lectures and so on – takes place outside London.

Training journalists

Knowledge of the PCC and the Code is now tested in most journalism courses’ examinations. In addition, compliance with the Code of Practice is increasingly a contractual requirement for working journalists. These factors are essential in ensuring that the Code remains respected and relevant. But they also mean that the PCC has an obligation to help train potential journalists about the Commission and the practical application of the Code. It therefore provides a range of speakers to address journalism students. Professor Robert Pinker – who is now a consultant to the Commission – and Sue Roberts have long had such a role. In order further to underline its commitment in this area, the Commission last year invited Alison Hastings to join this line up, with a specific brief to visit university journalism courses. Alison is a former regional editor, former member of the Commission and now a professional media trainer.

Online and On-call

Quite apart from its specific activities around the UK, the PCC continues to be online and on-call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The Commission’s website (www.pcc.org.uk), which receives hundreds of hits each day, is a huge databank of information. It contains details of every complaint adjudicated or resolved by the PCC since 1996 as well as advice for the public on how to deal with potentially difficult situations. The site also enables individuals to lodge their complaints immediately.