Britain: An official handbook > 1993

THE PRESS
and Media Union, with a membership of
around 270,000.
The Guild of British Newspaper Editors is
the officially recognised professional body for
newspaper editors. It has approximately 350
members and aims to maintain the
professional status and independence of
editors, defend the freedom of the press, and
improve the education and training of
journalists. The British Association of
Industrial Editors is the professional
organisation for editors of house journals.
The Association of British Editors represents
the whole range of media, including radio,
television, newspapers and magazines.
The main aim of the Foreign Press
Association, formed in 1888, is to help the
correspondents of overseas newspapers in their
work by arranging press conferences, tours,
briefings, and other services and facilities.
Press Conduct
Readers’ representatives have been appointed
by most national papers to handle complaints.
They also help to guarantee standards of
accuracy, fairness and good behaviour on the
part of journalists.
In 1990 a report on privacy and related
matters by a government-appointed
independent committee, under the
chairmanship of Mr (now Sir) David Calcutt,
QC, recommended the formation of a non-
statutory Press Complaints Commission by
the newspaper industry in place of the Press
Council. (The Press Council was a voluntary
non-statutory body set up by the newspaper
industry in 1953 to safeguard press freedom
and ensure that the press conducted itself
responsibly.)
The 1990 Calcutt Report also proposed
creating three new criminal offences of
physical intrusion to obtain personal
information for publication and extending
reporting restrictions on criminal cases so that
the anonymity granted to rape victims would
apply also to victims of other sexual offences.
Press Complaints Commission
The Press Complaints Commission took over
from the Press Council in 1991. Its
membership is drawn from newspaper and
magazine editors as well as from people from
outside the industry. The Commission deals
with complaints by members of the public
about the contents and conduct of British
newspapers and magazines and advises editors
and journalists. It operates a comprehensive
code of practice agreed by editors governing
respect for privacy, opportunity to reply,
corrections, journalists’ behaviour, references
to race and religion, payments to criminals
for articles, and protection of confidential
sources. The Commission publishes monthly
reports of its findings.
The Government indicated that it would
review the effectiveness of press self¬
regulation once the new Press Complaints
Commission had been in operation for 18
months. Now that this period is over, the
Government has asked Sir David Calcutt to
undertake an assessment of how press self¬
regulation has worked in practice since the
committee reported.
Advertising Practice
Advertising in all non-broadcast media such
as newspapers, magazines, posters (and also
direct mail, sales promotions, cinema, and
management of lists and databases) is
regulated by the Advertising Standards
Authority, an independent body funded by a
levy on display advertising expenditure. The
Authority aims to promote and enforce the
highest standards of advertising in the
interests of the public through its supervision
of the British Code of Advertising Practice.
The basic principles of the Code are to
ensure that advertisements:
• are legal, decent, honest and truthful;
• are prepared with a sense of
responsibility to the consumer and
society; and
• conform to the principles of fair
competition as generally accepted in
business.
The Authority includes among its activities
monitoring advertisements to ensure their
compliance with the Code and investigating
complaints received directly from members of
the public and competitors.
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