Memorandum submitted by the Editor-in-Chief
of Celtic Newspapers
I write in my role as Editor-in-Chief of Celtic
Newspapers. I hope the following comments may be helpful in your
inquiry into privacy and media intrusion.
Like many in my industry, I believe that self-regulation
as it has existed over the past decade has become increasingly
effective. Editors "play ball" with the PCC not because
it is an easy solution to difficult problems, but because it has
done much to improve standards over the period and because they
are genuinely interested in their newspapers having a solid reputation
in their communities. If that means admitting you have got something
wrong and putting it right within your columns, then so be it.
Nothing surprising there. Most editors would
say exactly the same thing. So if my contribution to this debate
is to have any further value, please forgive me if I look at a
particular aspect of my approach to the PCC and why I believe
it is a body of real value and substance.
Several years ago, Thomson Regional Newspapers,
for whom I then worked as an editor in Chester, introduced their
own Certificate of Journalism as a substitute for the Proficiency
Test run by the National Council for the Training of Journalists.
Success in both examinations is a signal that a trainee reporter
has reached a satisfactory standard and can be regarded as a senior
reporter. Among other things, that means a sizeable increase in
pay and so the trainee has a considerable incentive to succeed.
Part of the Certificate of Journalism examination
(now run by Trinity Mirror) involves the trainee being interviewed
by a panel of editors. I have sat on that panel more than a dozen
times and no-one in Trinity Mirror has more experience of it than
I do.
One of the early interviews involved a trainee
whose knowledge of the PCC's Code of Practice was clearly sketchy
and, although we had not been specifically requested to question
him on this aspect of his work, we failed the candidate. My thinking
was simple. If a reporter did not know the code and therefore
could not operate according to it, he had no place in the industry
I cherish.
As a result of this particular episode, questioning
on the code has become a central part of the panel interviews
and now no trainee within Trinity Mirror can reach senior status
unless they are able to demonstrate a full working knowledge of
the code. You will be interested to know that only on one subsequent
occasion have I had to fail a trainee for such reasons.
Do our reporters, trainees and seniors, take
the Code of Practice seriously and do they observe it? I can say
unequivocally, that they do because in the regional newspaper
industry, it is part of our culture and our way of doing things.
We believe in accuracy, we believe in the protection
of children and we believe in the right of privacy. We believe
in them so much that the contract of employment we have with our
editorial staff insists they operate according to the code.
Fine words, you may say, but does that provide
the ordinary member of the public with the protection he or she
must have?
What I will say on that is that my PCC file
which shows our dealings with the organisation over the last six
years, reveals that seven people have made complaints against
my newspapers. Four were complaints concerning accuracy; two involved
intrusion into grief and one was over a matter of privacy. It
is of minor interest that all the complaints were resolved without
the necessity of a PCC adjudication. What is more important is
that during those six years, we must have published at least 200,000
stories.
Yes I believe the code works and yes we work
to it. I am sure the vast majority of our readers would say the
same.
4 April 2003
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