ABSTRACT
The press in both the UK and Ireland is regulated by self-regulatory bodies, professional bodies such as the NUJ and possibly internal company regulation through a code of conduct or an ombudsman.
Press Complaints Commission The PCC was set up following the first Calcutt report in 1991 solely to resolve complaints. Calcutt’s recommendation that the Commission should not become involved in press freedom issues was regretted by the old Press Council. It felt that to seek to adjudicate on complaints that were not measured against the need for press freedom was to leave the media vulnerable to censorship. Despite these regrets, the old Press Council shut its doors in December 1990 and the PCC took up the reins in January 1991 under the leadership of Lord McGregor of Durris who had chaired the 1974-77 Royal Commission on the Press and was chairman of the Advertising Standards Authority. The PCC is funded by Pressbof (the press standards board of finance), a body set up by newspaper publishers’ organisations after the publication of the Calcutt Report. It raises finance from publishers to pay for the PCC and appoints the PCC’s chairman. It also appoints the Editors’ Code Committee that draws up the Code of Practice, that is ratified by Pressbof for use by the PCC in its adjudications. The members of the Press Complaints Commission are selected by an Appointments Commission, which has five members: the PCC chairman, three members nominated by the PCC chairman and the chairman of Pressbof. The nominated members each serve for four years. There are seventeen members of the Commission including the chairman. Seven of these are the press members, who should be working editors or senior journalists in executive positions. The remainder are independent members who cannot be involved with, or interested in, the business of publishing newspapers, periodicals or magazines. Since 2003, the new independent members have been appointed following an open advertising procedure. Press adverts invite people to apply for the position and the appointments committee makes the final decision. The PCC does not normally initiate enquiries and does not require a legal waiver from complainants. Under the old Press Council, a legal waiver had prevented complainants going on to sue the newspaper through the courts, using a council judgment in their favour as evidence. The PCC judges complaints against a code of practice drawn up by a committee of editors nominated by Pressbof.
