v) Where material about the private life of a child is published, there must be justification for publication other than the fame, notoriety or position of his or her parents or guardian.
7. Children in sex cases
1. The press must not, even where the law does not prohibit it, identify children under the age of 16 who are involved in cases concerning sexual offences.
2. In any press report of a case involving a sexual offence against a child -
i) The child must not be identified.
ii) The adult may be identified.
iii) The word “incest” must not be used where a child victim might be identified.
iv) Care must be taken that nothing in the report implies the relationship between the accused and the child.
8. Listening Devices
Journalists must not obtain or publish material obtained by using clandestine listening devices or by intercepting private telephone conversations.
9. Hospitals
i) Journalists or photographers making enquiries at hospitals or similar institutions should identify themselves to someone of responsibility, and obtain permission before entering restricted areas.
ii) The restrictions on intruding into privacy are particularly relevant to enquiries about individuals in hospitals or similar institutions.
10. Innocent relatives and friends
The press must avoid identifying relatives or friends of persons convicted or accused of crime without their consent.
11. Misrepresentation
i) Journalists must not generally obtain or seek to obtain information or pictures through misrepresentation or deceit.
ii) Documents or photographs should be removed only with the owner s consent.
iii) Subterfuge can be justified only in the public interest and only when material cannot be obtained by any other means.
12. Victims of sexual assault
The press must not identify victims of sexual assault or publish material likely to contribute to such identification unless there is adequate justification and, by law, they are free to do so.
13. Discrimination
i) The press must avoid prejudicial or disrespectful reference to a person’s race, colour, religion, sex or sexuality or to any disability or physical/mental illness.
ii) It must avoid publishing details of a person’s race, colour, religion, sexual orientation, physical or mental illness or disability unless these are relevant to the story.
14. Financial journalism
i) Journalists must not use for their own profit financial information they receive in advance of its general publication, nor should they pass such information to others.
ii) They must not write about shares or securities in whose performance they know that they or their close families have a significant financial interest without disclosing the interest to the editor or financial editor.
iii) They must not buy or sell, directly or through nominees or agents, shares or securities about which they have written recently or about which they intend to write in the near future.
15. Confidential sources
Journalists have a moral obligation to protect confidential sources of information.
16. Payment for articles
Payment or offers of payment for stories or information must not be made directly or through agents to witnesses or potential witnesses in current criminal proceedings except where the material concerned ought to be published in the public interest and there is an overriding need to make or promise to make a payment for this to be done.
(An editor authorising such a payment must be prepared to demonstrate that there is an official public interest at stake involving matters that the public has a right to know. The payment or the offer of payment to any witness who is actually named to give evidence should be disclosed to the prosecution and the defence and the witness should be advised of this).
ii) Payment or offers of payment for stories, pictures or information, must not be made directly or through agents to convicted or confessed criminals or to their associates – who may include family, friends and colleagues – except where the material concerned ought to be published in the public interest and payment is necessary for this to be done.
All publishers and editors committed themselves to this Code of Practice.
A Press Standards Board of Finance (Pressbof), modelled on the self-regulatory system established by the advertising industry in 1974, was put in place and charged with raising a charge upon the newspaper and periodical industries to finance the Commission. This arrangement ensures secure financial support for the PCC, while its complete independence is at the same time guaranteed by a majority of amateur members, and is a further sign of the industry’s commitment to effective self-regulation.
Over the past few years, the PCC has continued to grow in reputation – building on the accomplishments of its early years. In 1995 the then Government recognized the achievements of the PCC in making effective press self-regulation in its White Paper – “Privacy and Media Intrusion”.
The new Government, elected in 1997, has also made clear its support for effective self-regulation and for the work of the Press Complaints Commission.
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