The Press Complaints Commission received 3,033 complaints in 2001 – 36 per cent up on the previous year, and higher than the previous record year of 1996.
But it says that journalistic standards are not falling – and that more people know about the Commission and its work.
And contrary to popular belief, very few of those complaints came from public figures, celebrities or organisations.
More than 2,700 of the complaints – 90 per cent – were from ordinary people temporarily caught in the spotlight of media attention.
Only 86 complaints, three per cent of the total, were from famous or infamous people in the national public eye, with the remaining seven per cent being from organisations.
Of the total number of complaints received, 56 per cent were about national daily and Sunday newspapers.
More than a quarter were about regional and local newspapers in England and Wales, seven per cent were about publications special to Scotland, four per cent were about magazines and periodicals and the remaining seven about publications special to Northern Ireland and to agencies.
Fifty-eight per cent concerned accuracy in reporting. A quarter of all complaints were brought about by some aspect of personal privacy under different clauses of the
Code of Conduct, including children, intrusion into grief and the use of telephoto lenses.
The PCC report said: “An interesting trend in privacy complaints is that they are proportionately higher among regional and local newspapers, and publications in Scotland, than among national newspapers.
“When only 33 per cent of all complaints were about regional and local newspapers in England and Wales, and Scotland and Northern Ireland, they still accounted for 46 per cent of privacy complaints.
“This underlines the importance with which many complainants view their local or regional newspaper – and is not necessarily a reflection on journalistic standards: few of these complaints establish a breach of the Code.”
In all, one third of the complaints received proved to be outside the Commission’s remit and in 30 per cent of the complaints no breach of the Code was established. The Commission issued a full adjudication on 41 complaints – upholding 19 and rejecting 22.
Acting chairman Robert Pinker, summing up the PCC’s annual report, said it had:
He touched on implications for newspapers of cases during 2001 involving national newspapers and celebrities Anna Ford, Naomi Campbell and Gary Flitcroft.
And he said: “From them all I draw one conclusion: that the Courts, in interpreting the Human Rights Act, are in my view disinclined to become involved in matters relating to privacy and the press – unless, of course, it becomes clear that the PCC is failing in its task of protecting the public.
“These are welcome developments – but I am under no illusion about the heavy burden they place on the Press Complaints Commission and the effective functioning of self regulation.
“The task of the PCC in the years ahead is to show that we continue to be up to the difficult challenge of balancing the protection of individual privacy with the public’s right to know.
“Indeed, it is also up to the PCC to show that we will, in many ways, be tougher than the Courts in defining and outlining legitimate areas of public interest.”
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