The majority of complaints made to the Press Complaints Commission, which raise a possible breach of the Code of Practice, are resolved directly between the Commission's staff, editors and complainants.

These are either settled to the express satisfaction of the complainant following some remedial action by the editor or are not pursued by complainants following an explanation or other response from the publication.

Below are summaries of the latest complaints involving the regional press which fall into the first category.

Hull Daily Mail
Anthony Padwick of Bridlington complained that a letter he had submitted to the newspaper for publication had been edited prior to its appearance. The changes altered the meaning of the letter significantly. (Clause 1)
Resolution: The newspaper said it had edited the letter for length but acknowledged that one change had altered its meaning significantly. It published a correction with an apology.

Western Telegraph
A man complained that the publication of the address of his family home, in addition to a photograph of it, effectively identified the family of an offender and constituted an invasion of privacy. (Clause 3, 10)
Resolution: The newspaper wrote a personal letter to the complainant apologising if the family believed that the newspaper had been reckless and put it at risk. The newspaper also gave assurances that no further photographs of the family home would be published in relation to the offences.

Thanet Times
Josephine Johnston of the Thanet Stage School of Dance & Drama complained that an article reporting a performance by students of the school was inaccurate and denigrating to the children involved. (Clause 1)
Resolution: The newspaper published an apology to the young performers for offence caused by the article as well as a large number of letters that were critical of the original piece, including one from the complainant. While the school remained unhappy with the initial article it accepted the resolution of its complaint.

Western Gazette
Cindy Winter of Somerset complained that the newspaper's front page report of the inquest into her sister's death was intrusive at a time of grief and unnecessarily named her sister's children. (Clause 5, 6)
Resolution: The newspaper – having published a number of critical letters in response to the coverage – published a follow-up piece making clear a change in its policy of naming children and apologising for the distress caused by the article.

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