Press Complaints Commission figures for 2012 suggest a slight improvement in overall press behaviour compared with the previous year.

There was a reduction in the number of critical adjudications published by the watchdog and in the number of cases, including those involving media scrums, where pre-publication help was sought from the body.

Overall, the PCC found that there were 649 complaints which it judged to have 'merit' (which raised a likely breach of the Editors' Code), compared with 719 such complaints in 2011.