Press Complaints Commission

THE COMPLAINTS WE COULDN'T DEAL WITH

Each year, the Commission receives large numbers of emails and letters that it cannot act on, for example because the issue raised does not fall within the PCC's remit, or because the complainant has provided insufficient information to allow a proper assessment of their case.

In fact, because access to email has made initiating a complaint so easy, the Commission now deals with many hundreds of contacts each year where complainants don't follow their concerns through when asked to provide additional details. This can at times be frustrating but it is important to make clear that we respond to all emails and letters we receive. And in cases where a significant issue has been raised but not followed up, we will do all we can to elicit more information.

In 2009, exactly 2,600 contacts were not pursued by the complainant after their initial email or letter, which is a similar figure to the previous year. The Commission was in no position to take these matters any further.

Complaints which the Commission ruled were from genuine 'third parties' – people complaining about a matter to which they were not directly connected but where there was an obvious 'first party', who could have complained – rose slightly to 155 (including multiple complaints about the same thing). There were some particularly notable incidents which led to numerous such complaints. The death of Michael Jackson, for example, generated a huge amount of media coverage, some of which members of the public objected to on the grounds that it intruded into the grief of those close to him.

Complaints that were outside the Commission's remit (because they were about TV, advertising or Sudoku puzzles for instance) also rose slightly to 777 and there were 196 cases that raised matters of taste and decency with which the PCC does not deal.