What Does the PCC Do?

• The Press Complaints Commission is an independent body which deals with complaints about the content of newspapers and magazines in the UK. It has drawn up a 16 clause Code of Practice, which complaints and decisions must be based upon.

• The Commission investigates when it believes that the code has been breached, either in a published article or in the ways in which a journalist obtained their information. Where there is a problem, the PCC will act as a mediator to try to resolve the dispute.

• Where this fails, they will make an adjudication, based on the code. If the complaint is upheld, the newspaper must publish the full adjudication on a prominent page where it is likely to be read.

How does the system work?

The PCC is not a governmental body nor is the Code of Practice Legal Statute. Instead it is based on an agreement by the industry to be regulated by an independent body. The code is drawn up by a team of editors, but 10 of the 17 commissioners have no connection to the industry at all.