PCC year at a glance

PCC responds to Governance Review

The PCC was pleased to be able to welcome the Governance Review positively. We provided an itemised response to each of the 74 recommendations, taking the vast majority of them forward.

The PCC, at the same time, announced the first ever appointment of a Deputy Chairman, in a role designed to increase the authority of the public members on the Commission. The first appointee was Ian Nichol, a former partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers, and a Member of the Criminal Cases Review Commission.

Baroness Buscombe said: "Our response focuses on fi ve key areas for the Commission: effectiveness, transparency, accountability, working independence and clarity about our function. We pledge that the work begun by the Governance Review will be continued by the Commission. I am delighted that Ian Nichol has accepted the position of Deputy Chairman. Both Ian and I are determined to ensure that the PCC operates at the optimal level of trust, performance and focus."

New register of interests for Commissioners

As part of the Governance Review reforms, the Commission published an updated and expanded register of interests. This allowed editorial members to make publicly clear that they are excluded from the consideration of complaints about their own papers, and those with which they are closely connected.

First ruling on financial journalism since 'City Slickers'

The year ended with the first ruling under Clause 13 (Financial journalism) since the City Slickers case of 2000. However, the new cases were very different and the Commission found that The Daily and The Sunday Telegraph had acted properly in how they had made share recommendations. However, given the concerns that had been raised, the newspapers made a voluntary undertaking that the Questor editor would not buy or sell shares in the future.

The Director of the PCC said: "After the City Slickers case in 2000, specific guidance was introduced in the area of financial journalism by the Commission. This guidance was updated fi ve years ago to take account of relevant legislation, which derived from an EU Directive. This complaint was the first occasion on which the updated guidance has been tested and the Commission was glad to establish that the newspaper was following all the requirements. The fact that the Telegraph decided to take further voluntary action to prevent any suggestion of a conflict of interest shows the strength of the self-regulation in this area, which seeks to promote high standards of accountability. The PCC will host a seminar on this subject in 2011 to ensure that journalists across the industry remain up to date with the Commission's thinking, and aware of our vigilance."

Cruse Bereavement Care speaker addresses Commission

December saw Liz Taylor, the Director of Fundraising from Cruse Bereavement Care, address Commission members about the work of the organisation. This was the first in a new series designed to allow Commissioners to speak directly to organisations whose work overlaps in some way with an aspect of the Editors' Code of Practice. There was an excellent discussion centring around Clause 5 (Intrusion into grief or shock) while some very good suggestions were made as to how the PCC could continue to work with Cruse to promote its services to those in need.