PCC Considers Strengthening Self-Regulation

Acting chairman of the Press Complaints Commission (PCC), Professor Robert Pinker, has said that he wants to strengthen self-regulation within the newspaper industry.

In a speech to the Commonwealth Press Union, Pinker said: “There are many debates I am happy to have, as long as they end up strengthening self-regulation, not handing ammunition to its detractors. I have a passionate belief in what the PCC does both because it works for ordinary people and because it is crucial to the proper functioning of a civil society.”

Pinker acknowledged that the PPC “isn’t perfect” but warned against hasty change. He said: “There will always be those that argue that we should be more proactive, although that is in my view, a path fraught with practical difficulty and philosophical danger.”

He also tackled allegations that privacy is the preserve of the rich and famous, saying: “The issue of personal privacy is more than anything else about ordinary people. For them, our role as mediator and conciliator, the task for which we were established, is what is crucially important because it delivers quick, cost-free justice.”

Pinker replaced Lord Wakeham as chairman of the PCC when the Tory peer stood aside following the collapse of Enron earlier in the month.

Press Complaints Commission: 020 7353 1248 www.pcc.org.uk

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