Privacy and Injunctions - Evidence - Parliament

Press Complaints Commission—Written evidence
• Forres Gazette
• Strathspey and Badenoch Herald
• Newsquest North and East London
33. In addition to bespoke training seminars for individual titles or groups, the
Commission organises meetings from time to time about particular topics, including
privacy issues. Earlier this year the PCC, in conjunction with the Office of the
Information Commissioner, held a session with senior, national newspaper executives
to discuss the requirements of the Code of Practice and the Data Protection Act.
34. Since debates about privacy are fast-moving, particularly in light of technological
changes in the last decade, it is vital for the PCC’s effectiveness that it remains at the
forefront of developments in public attitude (often going beyond its primary
complaints-handling role). A good example is the work carried out by the
Commission into questions connected to online social networking, which included
commissioning an Ipsos MORI poll 366 (2008) and participating in public seminars (with
the Westminster Media Forum in 2008 and the LSE-based think tank Polis in 2010 367 ),
as well as setting up a sub-committee of the Commission to examine online issues on
an ongoing basis 368 . This work has helped to inform PCC thinking in connection to
complaints about the use of material from social networking sites. Its subsequent
rulings have in turn, via PCC training sessions, dissemination of the Editors’ Codebook
and other means, played a role in editorial decision-making.
35. Indeed, the Commission has disseminated widely the key questions editors should
consider when deciding whether to publish material that has originated from social
networking sites. These questions include:
• How widely available is the information?
• Who uploaded the material?
• What settings have been used to protect privacy?
• What is the quality of the information (how personal is it; what is the context)?
• What is the public interest?
• How is the material presented?
36. The PCC’s non-statutory basis means it has had the flexibility to respond effectively to
many of the challenges thrown up by online developments, both in terms of examining
complaints about newspaper websites (where remedies will often be different to
those traditionally appropriate for printed errors) and in respect of setting guidelines
for the handling by journalists of material that has originated on the internet.
37. As members of the Committee will know, the PCC plays no role in the granting or
enforcement of injunctions. Nonetheless, in light of concerns about a variety of
contempt of court issues, the Commission has recently held a seminar for senior,
366 Results of all polls commissioned by the Press Complaints Commission are available at
http://www.pcc.org.uk/externalrelations/research.html.
367 A report of the event co-hosted by the PCC and Polis can be read at blogs.lse.ac.uk/polis/2010.
368 The Commission’s Online Working Group was set up in 2009; its members are Ian Walden, Simon Sapper, Anthony
Longden and Ian MacGregor.
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