History

• The PCC was set up in 1991, replacing the Press Council, after a small number of publications failed to observe the basic ethics of journalism in the 1980s, causing many MPs to doubt the Press Council's effectiveness. Some believed that a body should be set up that was under government control.

• The government appointed a Departmental Committee to consider the matter. Its task was 'to consider what measures are needed to give further protection to individual privacy from the activities of the press and improve recourse against the press for the individual citizen. The report did not recommend statutory control.

• A committee of editors was set up, who produced a code of practice for the PCC to administer. The Press Standards Board of Finance was set up to organise funding.

How is the PCC funded?

• Through a body called the Press Standards Board of Finance, which is responsible for collecting money from newspapers and magazines in the UK. The press have agreed that each publication should pay an amount proportional to its circulation figures.

• The public do not have to pay for the service either directly or indirectly through taxes