PCC To Widen Online Remit

Sir Christopher Meyer, chairman of the Press Complaints Commission (PCC), has announced that the organisation has reached an agreement with publishers which will see it regulate audio-visual content, such as podcasts, on newspaper websites.

Meyer was being interviewed on BBC News 24 where he welcomed the newspaper industry’s agreement to extending the PCC’s regulatory field, calling the move a major step forward.

The PCC’s remit already covers complaints from members of the public about photographic and print content on newspaper and magazine websites.

“The basic situation has been for some time that we regulate what’s in print and we regulate the photo and the word on electronic versions of newspapers. And we have now persuaded the newspaper and magazine industry of the United Kingdom to agree also the principle of our regulating moving pictures and sound on newspaper’s websites,” he said.

“It’s a major step forward. It’s the first time, I think, that newspapers have voluntarily agreed without outside pressure to extend the remit of regulation through the PCC.”

Meyer is expected to make a further statement in February which will outline the exact details of the PCC’s regulation of online audio-visual content.