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.

Scunthorpe Evening Telegraph
S Thompson of Scunthorpe complained that a picture of her had been used to illustrate a story about the dangers of debt with which she was not involved. The use of the photo, in which she was clearly recognisable, was, therefore, misleading. (Clause 1)
Resolution: The matter was resolved when the newspaper published a clarification making clear that, although her picture had been used, the complainant was not the woman referred to in the article and was not in debt.

Eastbourne Herald
D M Wragg, of Pevensey, complained that the newspaper’s coverage of his church’s vicar’s decision to ban bell ringers contained a variety of inaccuracies. (Clause 1)
Resolution: The complaint was resolved when the vicar of the church was satisfied by the publication of a number of letters from aggrieved parishioners. The paper also offered to publish a letter from the vicar and amended its records to reflect all the points under contention.

Evening Standard
Shahid Malik, Labour NEC Member of London, complained that a diary piece had suggested that he made an impassioned speech against the war in Iraq at the Brent East Labour Party selection meeting to the surprise of some of those present, who had allegedly not heard him voice such criticism before. In fact, while Iraq did not feature heavily in this particular speech, Mr Malik had previously made clear his objections to the war in the national media. (Clause 1)
Resolution: The complaint was resolved when the newspaper published a clarification on these points.

Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Lorna Bodily, through solicitors Cauthery, Waterman and Cheetham, complained that an article was inaccurate when it stated in an inquest report that she was the “former lover” of the deceased man. (Clause 1)
Resolution: The complaint was resolved when the newspaper published a clarification on the matter.

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