• Introduction
• Chairman's perspective
• Public representatives
• Complainants
• Professional representatives
• Newspapers and magazines
• Doug Wills - Managing Editor, Evening Standard
• Elisabeth Ribbans - Managing Editor, The Guardian
• Donald Martin - Editor, The Sunday Post & The Weekly News; Editor-in-Chief, DC Thomson Newspapers
• Lisa Burrow - Editor, Closer Magazine
• Nick Turner - Digital Strategy Manager, CN Group
• Georgina Harvey - President of the Newspaper Society
• Alison Hastings - PCC Journalism Trainer, Former Editor, Evening Chronicle (Newcastle)
• The Press Complaints Commission
• Constructive critics
• International perspective
• Historical perspective
• Putting it into perspective

Newspapers and magazines

Donald Martin - Editor, The Sunday Post & The Weekly News; Editor-in-Chief, DC Thomson Newspapers

Receiving a PCC complaint always sends a slight shiver down my spine. Often much more so than a lawyer's letter.

To have a complaint upheld for failing to abide by the Code would be a personal failure for myself as an editor and one I certainly don't want to share with my readers through a published adjudication.

And that personal motivation is one of the key strengths of the PCC. It puts pressure on newspapers to go that extra mile to resolve a complaint, often pragmatically conceding ground and taking a more conciliatory tone than we would in a legal dispute.

The push for a satisfactory resolution is handled with great skill by the PCC's staff. There is open dialogue and a real understanding and appreciation of how we operate as newspapers and the difficulties we often face.

More importantly, the staff are on hand with clear guidance and advice before publication. That not only avoids complaints arising but establishes a positive working relationship and mutual trust. I welcome that proactive approach and have benefi ted many times from it over the years.

In my experience, the service the PCC provides is fair, free and impartial and crucially of equal value to both complainants and editors. It ensures we, as journalists, aspire to the highest standards and, on the rare occasion we fall below, we work even harder to make amends.