Codes of Practice

Media law

There are several reasons why codes of practice are required:

• to set a benchmark of what is acceptable and what is not
• to keep in touch with contacts.
• to reassure the public - it builds trust between journalists and the audience.

There are three main bodies that set and regulate these codes of practice:

• The Press Complaints Commissioner (PCC) - newspapers and magazines
• OFCOM - broadcasters
• BBC - for staff and licence payers.

A case demonstrating how important codes of practice are is that of Peter Fincham. He was a BBC one controller who resigned after an investigation into footage misrepresenting the Queen. It concerned a documentary trailer which was edited out of sequence and incorrectly, Peter Fincham told the press that the documentary showed the Queen walking out of a photo session 'in a huff'.

The codes are crucial as they guide individuals through ethical issues. Questions such as, how can you go to get the story? what practices are legitimate? and, when do circumstances make a difference? can therefore be checked and answered with a higher degree of accuracy.

The key areas that the codes are used are therefore:

• ethical behaviour
• fair treatment (privacy, crime)
• requirement for accuracy and impartiality.
• to protect vulnerable groups i.e. children.

The PCC

It is considered to be the toothless tiger in comparison with the other codes. This is due to the fact, that it is self-regulated.
On its website, http://www.pcc.org.uk/, it gives brief guidelines and information regarding their stance on the accuracy of reports, the opportunity to reply, privacy, harassment, the intrusion into grief or shock and reports involving children. Rather surprisingly and unlike other codes, it does not include any guidelines on impartiality, which infers that it is less concerned with this.

A controversial and grey area of the PCC code is that some reports are affected or even completely determined by the public interest defence and so it is unclear when exactly and to what extent the rules can be bent.

OFCOM

If the PCC is a toothless tiger, OFCOM is definitely the fierce tiger of the codes as it has clear and established statutory powers attached.
If an error is made, then either the individual or their superior will be fined.
The competition phone - in saga demonstrates this, as stars Ant and Dec, along with programmes Blue Peter and Comic Relief were all caught up in it.
ITV were fined a record amount of £5.6 million, which was reached as it was a percentage of their turnover. This amount turnt out to be a more than even the most serious libel cases.
The BBC was fined £400,000. Still a staggering amount, in so far as claims to broadcasting channels go.
OFCOM also have certain powers that they can enforce upon broadcasters.

These include;

• giving the direction not to repeat the programme.
• corrections to findings must be broadcast, by way of an apology.
• impose fines. These can be up to 5% of their overall revenue. A point of contention concerns how revenue is defined? This seems to be unclear.
• in a very severe case, they can revoke a broadcasting licence. This has never happened, although if it did, it would be more likely to happen to channels with low usage.

On OFCOM's website, it discusses much of the same things as the PCCs, but goes into a lot more depth.

Although acknowledging that the impartiality principle brought up various intellectual difficulties concerning its definition and practice, Evan Davis's case concluded that impartiality was 'probably a public good'.

Impartiality is a requirement for all broadcasters. It is not applicable to any newspaper i.e. the Sun and the Daily Mail would have great difficulty is suddenly they had to adhere to impartiality requirements.
The classic BBC definition of impartiality is that it is the absence of bias or perception and it considers the 'axis of debate'. Examples of these include climate change and economic policy.

In some instances, such as David Irvine's piece on the Holocaust, obviously there is one resounding opinion of those events. However, in terms of producing a balance, the reporter would emphasis that the 'other' view was in the minority.

BBC

The BBC is considered as a wounded teddy bear and has a three-stage complaints process (according to the website):

Stage 1: What happens first when I make a complaint?

• We aim to reply to you within 10 working days depending on the nature of your complaint. We also publish public responses to significant issues of wide audience concern on this website.
• If we have made a mistake we will apologise and take action to stop it happening again.
• If you are dissatisfied with our first response, please contact the department which replied explaining why and requesting a further response to the complaint. If you made your original complaint through this website, you will need to use our web form again. You should normally do this within 20 working days.

Stage 2: If I'm not satisfied with this second reply, what can I do next?

• If you consider that the second response you received still does not address your complaint, we will advise you how to take the matter further to this next stage. You should normally do this within 20 working days
• If it is about a specific item which you believe has breached BBC editorial standards and it was broadcast or published by the BBC, it will normally be referred to the Editorial Complaints Unit. The Unit will independently investigate your complaint (normally in writing), decide if it is justified and, if so, ensure that the BBC takes appropriate action in response.
• Other complaints at this stage will normally be referred to management in the division responsible. For full details of the BBC’s complaints processes please visit the BBC Trust website.

Stage 3: If I still think the BBC has got it wrong what can I do?

• The BBC Trust ensures complaints are properly handled by the BBC and that the complaints process reflects best practice and opportunities for learning.
• Within 20 working days of your response at Stage 2, you may ask the BBC Trust to consider an appeal against the finding. If the BBC Trust upholds an appeal it expects management to take account of its findings.
• You can write to the BBC Trust at 180 Great Portland Street, London W1W 5QZ. Full details of the complaints and appeals processes are on the BBC Trust website.

One of the most recent complaints scandals was that of Russell Brand and Jonathon Ross.
The BBC was fined £150,000 after Brand and Ross left a message on Andrew Sach's answer phone , which OFCOM described as "gratuitously offensive, humiliating and demeaning".