View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

  1. Comment
December 21, 2011updated 22 Dec 2011 2:32pm

Guest blog: Has change just exposed the PCC’s weakness?

By Cleland Thom

I doubt if the changes, announced yesterday, in the way the media presents Press Complaints Commission adjudications prompted spontaneous celebrations from the tabloid critics at the Leveson Inquiry.

Instead, I suspect they were greeted with comments like “too little, too late”.

The changes, announced by the Editors’ Code Committee , mean that from 1 January, editors who breach the code must publish critical PCC adjudications with a prominence that has been agreed in advance with the PCC’s director.

Committee chairman Paul Dacre, editor of the Daily Mail, believes the action will kill the myth that adjudications are routinely buried in the paper. “It should dispose of another misconception,” he said.

In my experience, this practice wasn’t always a misconception. An editor I knew once published an apology amid the classifieds – it replaced a house ad. And as a sub, I was often instructed to bury an apology or correction … “on a left hand page up the back somewhere”.

The Daily Mirror famously went to the other extreme and published a grovelling full page apology to American millionaire Steve Bing – with an article on the facing page saying how Americans didn’t understand British sarcasm.

The situation has certainly improved in recent years, largely thanks to the PCC. Many papers now have an apology column on page two.

Content from our partners
MHP Group's 30 To Watch awards for young journalists open for entries
How PA Media is helping newspapers make the digital transition
Publishing on the open web is broken, how generative AI could help fix it

However, I don’t believe we go anywhere near far enough in righting our wrongs. Mud Sticks … and a couple of pars on page two do little to unstick it.

The Defamation Act 1996 offers a better solution. Someone defamed in a privileged article can insist on their right of reply receiving “like manner of publication” in terms of prominence and position.

The changes announced by the PCC are certainly a step in the right direction. But what if a publication could not agree the prominence of an adjudication with the PCC’s director? What would be the ultimate sanction?

A PCC spokesman explained: “In practice, there has never been an occasion when an editor has refused to publish a critical adjudication.

“The system of self-regulation requires buy-in from editors, and indeed it is a strength of the system that editors accept the commission’s rulings.

“Agreement on prominence is already frequently negotiated by the PCC in advance of publication anyway. This Code change now formalises that process.”

And if there was no agreement?

“Ultimately the matter would be referred to the Commission.”

And then? Hmm …

The new arrangements may improve the situation. But I fear our critics will see them as another demonstration of the PCC’s ultimate lack of power.

Cleland Thom is a consultant and trainer in media law.


See website

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

Select and enter your email address Weekly insight into the big strategic issues affecting the future of the news industry. Essential reading for media leaders every Thursday. Your morning brew of news about the world of news from Press Gazette and elsewhere in the media. Sent at around 10am UK time. Our weekly does of strategic insight about the future of news media aimed at US readers. A fortnightly update from the front-line of news and advertising. Aimed at marketers and those involved in the advertising industry.
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network