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.

Surrey Mirror
C Curtis, acting on behalf of the parents of two girls at the school of which he was head master, complained that an article indirectly identified the two girls in a manner that was unnecessarily intrusive. (Clause 3, 6)
Resolution: The editor sent private letters of apology to the parents of each of the girls and agreed to circulate the details of the complaint to the editorial team so that members of staff were aware of the complainant’s concerns for future reference.

The Mercury (Herts and Essex)
P Withers complained that an article contained details that identified her and an image of her property when she had previously requested anonymity. (Clause 3)
Resolution: The editor sent a private letter of apology to the complainant and provided an undertaking not to use the image of her property again.

Evening Express
Jacqueline D Leith, chairman of the Ferryhill Heritage Society, complained that an article on ugly buildings featured an incorrect photograph and that a published correction was also inaccurate. (Clause 1)
Resolution: The complaint was resolved when the newspaper published a further correction – which was accompanied by a colour photograph of the correct building – and apologised for the error.