Press Complaints Commission – Annual Report 1996

The Press Complaints Commission has released its annual report for 1996. During the year, a total of 3,023 complaints were made, an increase of 20% year-on-year. Not only is this a significant increase on 1996, but it also takes the number of complaints made to a record level. The chairman of the commission, Lord Wakeham, commented: “We dealt with more complaints that ever before – a sure sign that the public not only knows about the PCC and its procedures, but also has confidence in the Commission to deliver results.”

Of the complaints dealt with last year, more than 80% were either directly resolved with the publication concerned as a result of the Commission’s intervention, or not pursued by the complainant.

Nearly 10% of complainants related to the coverage by the press of the Euro ’96 football championships. Although, after investigation in to the cases concerned, the Commission did not find that the industry’s Code had been breached. The PCC did, however, state that it felt editorial comment in some newspapers had seriously misjudged the pubic mood.

The PCC: 0171 353 1248