Lessons from resolved complaints

Many substantive complaints that come to the PCC are resolved to the satisfaction of the complainant without the need for the Commission to reach a formal judgement. The outcomes of these resolved cases – which often raise possible breaches of the Code – are recorded on the Commission’s website, and so can act as effective examples of lessons learned for the future.

Approaching Judges

The PCC has recently resolved a complaint from the Judicial Communications Office against the Evening Standard. It was concerned that the newspaper had approached a judge at his home at night to ask him about a case he had previously considered, and then misrepresented his response in the published article. The complaint was resolved when the newspaper sent a private apology to the Judge.

http://www.pcc.org.uk/case/resolved.html?article=NTE1OA==

The complaint made reference to the PCC’s Guidance Note on the Judiciary and Harassment, which was published in 2003. The Commission used the note to draw editors’ attention to the convention that “judges cannot comment outside a courtroom on any case over which they are presiding, or have presided, or discuss any decision they have made, or any sentence they have imposed. They are equally prohibited from commenting on or discussing the decisions of other judges”. With this in mind, the note warns that an approach to a judge for comments about a judge’s involvement in a case may lead to a breach of Clause 4 (Harassment) of the Code.

The recent Evening Standard case demonstrates that editors should be aware of the protocol and the PCC’s guidance on the subject.

Reporting of Suicide

In recent weeks, the PCC has been involved with handling the concerns of numerous families in the Bridgend area, whose relatives have taken their own lives. This includes dealing with formal complaints about coverage, and circulating a request across both the press and broadcasting industry that families not be contacted by journalists.

It is, of course, vital that the reporting of suicide is handled appropriately. Clause 5 (Intrusion into grief or shock) was amended in 2007 to incorporate the requirement that editors should take care to “avoid excessive detail about the method used”. The PCC upheld two complaints last year on this issue (click here and here for details). It has recently resolved a complaint against She magazine, which published an article written by a woman whose brother had taken his own life. This contained specific information about his method of suicide. It was resolved when the magazine changed its internal procedures and took considerable steps to prevent repetition of any breaches of Clause 5 of the Code.

Editors are responsible for the removing detailed references to the method of suicide from copy before publication, even if they are revealed by a family member or during an inquest. Clause 5 has been designed to limit the possibility of copycat suicide and the PCC can take a complaint from any concerned party that too much detail has been included in an article.

http://www.pcc.org.uk/case/resolved.html?article=NTE1OQ==