The simple complaints total inevitably conceals a more complex picture. The PCC receives many complaints that do not fall within its remit – relating, say, to advertisements, legal matters or issues of taste and decency – or represent general concerns on the part of complainants, that do not fall within the terms of the Code. In those cases, the PCC seeks to assist complainants in an appropriate manner, by referring them to other relevant bodies or passing on their views to the editor concerned.

In all, the Commission had to make 900 rulings under the Code in 2004, which represented a drop of around 14% from 2003. The complaints that raised a possible breach of the Code also fell by 7%. This means that, despite overall complaints levels remaining the same, there was a noticeable drop in substantive concerns about the newspaper and magazine industry.

Against that background, however, the PCC was busier than ever. It conducted 10% more investigations than in 2003, and achieved the highest number of resolved complaints in its 13-year history. In 98% of cases raising a possible breach of the Code, the Commission was able to negotiate appropriate remedial action on behalf of a complainant; in only 2% of possible breaches was no appropriate offer made. These complaints were all upheld.

The average time taken to deal with all complaints remained exactly the same as last year: 17 days. However, there was a slight increase in the time taken for the Commission to complete its investigations. This is probably explained by the extra lengths to which PCC staff have gone in 2004 to negotiate settlements to complaints as outlined above. However, the process remained undoubtedly fast: it took the PCC 37 days on average to reach a ruling on a complaint, just three days more than 2003, and within the self-imposed target of 40 days.

While the Commission again handled complaints from high profile figures – especially regarding the issue of privacy and pictures (see page 6) – in 2004, it also fulfilled its primary objective of offering assistance to ordinary members of the public: over 90% of all complainants have not previously been in the public eye. And the majority of the Commission’s workload was not devoted to national newspapers (either broadsheet or tabloid): 49% of its investigated complaints related to regional, Scottish or Northern Irish titles, compared with 44% which related to nationals. In all privacy cases, more substantive complaints were again raised about regional newspapers than nationals in 2004.

Table 1

Table 2

Table 3

Table 5

Customer feedback

Each year the Commission surveys the views of hundreds of people who use its service. In 2004, 305 complainants returned the anonymous feedback form. The results were as follows:

• 94% of people whose complaints were either upheld or resolved were satisfied or very satisfied with the way in which their case had been handled;
• 79% of respondents considered that the time taken to deal with their complaint had been about right;
• 94% of complainants found the Commission’s literature to be clear or very clear, while 87% found the PCC’s staff to be helpful or very helpful; and
• 60% overall concluded that their complaint had been handled satisfactorily or very satisfactorily. This was in line with previous years and includes those cases where the Commission found no breach of the Code.