Friday 5 October 2007

PCC's new code

The PCC's new code on suicide found its first application recently with the Wigan Evening Post having a complaint against it upheld. The paper published a story from a coroner's court giving too many details about the death and "The Commission agreed with the complainant that the newspapers had included too much detail in describing how the suicide happened. " The PCC went on to say: "Inquests are held in public and newspapers are free to report their proceedings, but to abide by the terms of the Code – which sets out standards over and above the legal framework – the papers should on this occasion have been less specific about the method used".
Doubtless the newspaper published the adjudication as it is bound to do by the PCC's rules. However, it didn't take the issue seriously enough to take the story off its website, or to alter it and so at present date, it still remains available. The PCC took a decision in the early part of 2007 to take a regulatory responsibility for websites run by newspapers. Presumably, we can look forward to the Wigan Evening Post being not only the first paper to run foul of the new PCC regulations on suicide but also the first newspaper website to be castigated by the PCC.