1Graduate Teaching Associate, School of Journalism & Electronic Media, College of Communication and Information, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN-37996, United States of America
2Professor, School of Journalism & Electronic Media, College of Communication and Information, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN-37996, United States of America
*Corresponding author email id: abhijit.mazumdar7@gmail.com
Online published on 25 November, 2016.
The authors tally 57 monthly Press Complaint Commission complaint resolution reports, dating from January 2010 to September 2014. The sums from each category were expressed as a percentage of all 28,457 complaints. The data show that Press Complaints Commission (PCC) was something of a ‘paper tiger. The largest category of complaints was those that were not pursued after initial contact with PCC. The commission also took no action on 3,108 third-party complaints. In almost one in four of the complaints, the PCC found neither a breach of the code nor a need for a public ruling. This analysis led to a qualitative review of the ethical need for, potential best practices of, and opportunities facing the United Kingdom's new Independent Press Standards Organisation, the likely PCC successor and a competing alternative, IMPRESS(impressproject.org). The authors conclude that the United Kingdom is in the middle of a fascinating case study in the structural dimensions of a ‘balanced authority’ entity that can approach press ethics with energy, fairness and respect for a free press.
Press complaints commission, IPSO, IMPRESS, Ethics, Media, Judgment, U.K
