Three-quarters of people who use the Press Complaints Commission are happy with the level of service provided, according to survey results released by the press watchdog.
According to the PCC‘s complainant satisfaction survey for January-June 2011, 75 per cent of people said their complaint had been dealt with either ‘very well”, ‘well’or “satisfactorily”, while 20 per cent said their complaint had been handled “poorly” of “terribly”.
Ninety-two per cent of people found PCC staff either ‘very helpful”, ‘helpful’or ‘satisfactory”, and two-thirds said the length of time taken to deal with their complaint was ‘about right”.
The PCC had to deal with some strong criticism in the wake of the News of the World phone-hacking saga, when Prime Minister David Cameron argued that ‘the way the press is regulated today is not working”.
Days later Labour leader Ed Miliband claimed it was ‘time to put it [the PCC] out of its misery’and Deputy Leader Nick Clegg called it a ‘busted flush”. Chairman Baroness Buscombe announced her resignation from the organisation last week.
PCC director Stephen Abell said: “I hope that these figures show the quality of work currently undertaken by PCC staff in dealing with complaints.”
‘This is what the PCC was set up to do, and it this work that needs to be built upon, as the process of reform of the system is considered. The PCC is committed to driving that reform in terms of its practical independence and remit.”
The survey also found that the majority of complaintants (40 per cent) are aged betweeb 51-70, followed by those aged 30-50 (38 per cent). Seventy per cent of complainants said they regularly read the pulication which was the source of their complaint.
A national survey in May found 79 per cent of people had no concerns over confidence in the PCC (meaning they were either very confident, confident, or neutral).
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