APPENDIX 41
Memorandum submitted by The Scottish Daily
Newspaper Society
GENERAL
1. The Scottish Daily Newspaper Society
(SDNS) is the trade association representing seven major companies
publishing 18 morning, evening and Sunday newspapers, including
Scottish editions of five UK national newspapers, with a total
weekly circulation of 11,760,000.
2. The SDNS is a founder member of The Press
Standards Board of Finance Limited (Pressbof), the company which
is responsible for funding the Press Complaints Commission (PCC).
It nominates a Scottish editor to serve on the PCC and another
on the Code Committee.
CONSTITUTION AND
PERFORMANCE OF
THE PCC
3. The membership of the PCC comprises an
independent Chairman, eight public members and seven editors,
giving those not connected with the newspaper or magazine industries
a clear majority. It is interesting to note that if viewed in
terms of executives (editors) and non-executives (lay members)
the balance of the Commission membership complies with the recommendation
of the recent Higgs report on corporate governance.
4. The SDNS believes that the PCC has played
an effective role since it was established in 1991.
— It has successfully raised public
awareness and is accessible to everyone as demonstrated by over
8,000 enquiries it received in 2001. Ninety per cent of over 3,000
complaints it received in that year came from ordinary people,
7% from organisations and public bodies and only 3% from people
in the national public eye.
— Complaints are dealt with expeditiously,
the average time taken to deal with a complaint being 32 days.
— The overwhelming majority of complaints
are resolved amicably often after an appropriate offer by an editor
to remedy any possible breach.
— 110 (6%) of 1,897 complaints investigated
by the PCC in 2001 related to Scottish daily newspapers. Fifty-seven
involved no breach of the Code, 50 were resolved or not pursued
and two of only three cases on which full adjudications were issued
were upheld.
MEDIA FREEDOM,
MEDIA RESPONSIBILITY
AND INDEPENDENCE
OF SELF-REGULATION
5. Media responsibility goes hand in hand
with freedom of expression. This responsibility is demonstrated
through the commitment of editors to their own Code of Practice,
which is then independently applied by the PCC (with its built
in majority of non-press members). Being their own Code it plays
an important role in the day-to-day decisions editors make about
what to publish in their own newspapers.
6. It is important to note that while Pressbof
provides the funding for the PCC, the Commission operates with
complete independence.
PRESS BEHAVIOUR
7. There can be little doubt that in the
main the overall behaviour of the press, in particular the popular
tabloids, has improved over the past 12 years. In brief this is
because editors do not wish to be judged to be in breach of their
own Code by a body (the PCC) which has earned the respect not
only of the newspaper industry but more importantly the public
(in contrast to the former Press Council in its latter days) and
whose adjudications carry authority.
8. This is not to deny that there are not
lapses, which can never be totally eliminated in an industry with
a multitude of publications consuming over two million tonnes
of newsprint per annum (excluding magazines). The fact that only
19 investigated complaints were upheld by the PCC in 2001 however
puts the behaviour of the press in proper context.
CODE OF
PRACTICE
9. The Code of Practice adopted by the industry
in 1991 was substantially based on that recommended by the Committee
on Privacy. Six revisions since then confirm that it is kept up
to date by the Code Committee.
10. Ownership of the Code by the industry
is seen as a crucial element in its wide acceptance by editors
and publishers.
THE PCC, THE
APPOINTMENTS COMMITTEE,
THE CODE
OF PRACTICE
AND CODE
COMMITTEE
11. As explained earlier in this submission
the Appointments Committee (on which the Pressbof Chairman is
the only newspaper representative among the five members) ensures
the independence of the majority non-press members of the PCC.
It is an arrangement which has been proven to work well.
Similarly the Code Committee has demonstrated
its ability to keep the code under continuing review and make
changes where appropriate.
MECHANICS OF
THE COMPLAINTS
PROCEDURE
12. The PCC aims to make their service as
well known and accessible as possible, particularly to those who
are most vulnerable. Supported by a helpline, website and literature
available in a range of languages the complaints process is easy
and transparent. Information is also disseminated through regional
tours, seminars and other speaking engagements
13. There is provision for the PCC to consider
third party complaints where appropriate.
SANCTIONS
14. Sanctions should only be considered
if (a) the existing arrangements have been shown to be inadequate
and (b) alternative arrangements based on fines or compensation
would offer an improvement.
15. It should be said that in terms of (a)
it is a standard condition in contracts of employment for the
vast majority of editors and their journalists that they will
follow the Code of Practice. It is therefore seen as a mark of
failure for an editor when the PCC upholds a complaint against
his/her newspaper. The obligation to publish the adverse adjudication
in full and with due prominence is a distinctly uncomfortable
one, not least because of the added coverage it will be given
by rival publications.
16. Furthermore a key part of the existing
arrangements is the ability of the PCC to reach an amicable resolution
of the overwhelming majority of complaints within a relatively
short space of time. That foundation stone would be seriously
undermined if complainants had one eye on the prospect of receiving
compensation. Similarly, editors faced with the possibility of
paying fines or compensation would show much less flexibility
than they presently do in responding to complaints. Inevitably,
it would lead to a quasi-legal system with the introduction of
lawyers on both sides and a breakdown of the efficiency and practicality
of the existing arrangements without any corresponding benefits.
CONCLUSION
17. The SDNS welcomes the scrutiny of the
Select Committee. It believes that the evidence will prove to
the Committee that self regulation built round the industry's
own Code and enforced by the PCC is working in the interests of
the public.
18. Representatives of the SDNS Editors'
Committee would be happy to give oral evidence to the Committee
at Westminster or indeed in Scotland should the Committee or its
Scottish Members wish to travel north.
THE SCOTTISH
DAILY NEWSPAPER
SOCIETY
Publisher
| Titles |
Aberdeen Journals Ltd | Press & Journal
|
| Evening Express |
| Associated Newspapers Ltd | Scottish Daily Mail
|
| Scottish Mail on Sunday |
| News International | Scottish Sun
|
| Newspapers (Scotland) Ltd | Sunday Times Scotland
|
| Scottish News of the World
|
| The Scotsman Publications Ltd | The Scotsman
|
| Evening News |
| Scotland on Sunday |
Scottish Dail Record &
Sunday Mail Ltd
| Daily Record
Sunday Mail |
| SMG Publishing Ltd | The Herald
|
| Evening Times |
| Sunday Herald |
| D C Thomson & Co Ltd | The Courier
|
| Evening Telegraph |
| Sunday Post |
7 February 2003
|
|
| 
