Британський кодекс
The Press Complaints Commission is charged with enforcing the following Code of Practice which was framed by the newspaper and periodical industry and was ratified by the PCC on 01 August 2007.
THE CODE
All members of the press have a duty to maintain the highest professional standards. The Code, which includes this preamble and the public interest exceptions below, sets the benchmark for those ethical standards, protecting both the rights of the individual and the public's right to know. It is the cornerstone of the system of self-regulation to which the industry has made a binding commitment.
It is essential that an agreed code be honoured not only to the letter but in the full spirit. It should not be interpreted so narrowly as to compromise its commitment to respect the rights of the individual, nor so broadly that it constitutes an unnecessary interference with freedom of expression or prevents publication in the public interest.
It is the responsibility of editors and publishers to apply the Code to editorial material in both printed and online versions of publications. They should take care to ensure it is observed rigorously by all editorial staff and external contributors, including non-journalists, in printed and online versions of publications.
Editors should co-operate swiftly with the PCC in the resolution of complaints. Any
publication judged to have breached the Code must print the adjudication in full and with
due prominence, including headline reference to the PCC.
1 Accuracy
i) The Press must take care not to publish inaccurate, misleading or distorted
information, including pictures.
ii) A significant inaccuracy, misleading statement or distortion once recognised must be
corrected, promptly and with due prominence, and - where appropriate - an apology
published.
iii) The Press, whilst free to be partisan, must distinguish clearly between comment,
conjecture and fact.
iv) A publication must report fairly and accurately the outcome of an action for
defamation to which it has been a party, unless an agreed settlement states otherwise, or
an agreed statement is published.
2 Opportunity to reply
A fair opportunity for reply to inaccuracies must be given when reasonably called
for.
3 *Privacy
i) Everyone is entitled to respect for his or her private and family life, home,
health and correspondence, including digital communications. Editors will be expected to
justify intrusions into any individual's private life without consent.
ii) It is unacceptable to photograph individuals in a private place without their
consent.
Note - Private places are public or private property where there is a reasonable
expectation of privacy.
4 *Harassment
i) Journalists must not engage in intimidation, harassment or persistent
pursuit.
ii) They must not persist in questioning, telephoning, pursuing or photographing
individuals once asked to desist; nor remain on their property when asked to leave and
must not follow them.
iii) Editors must ensure these principles are observed by those working for them and take
care not to use non-compliant material from other sources.
5 Intrusion into grief or shock
i) In cases involving personal grief or shock, enquiries and approaches must be
made with sympathy and discretion and publication handled sensitively. This should not
restrict the right to report legal proceedings, such as inquests.
*ii) When reporting suicide, care should be taken to avoid excessive detail about the
method used.
6 *Children
i) Young people should be free to complete their time at school without unnecessary
intrusion.
ii) A child under 16 must not be interviewed or photographed on issues involving their
own or another child’s welfare unless a custodial parent or similarly responsible adult
consents.
iii) Pupils must not be approached or photographed at school without the permission of
the school authorities.
iv) Minors must not be paid for material involving children’s welfare, nor parents or
guardians for material about their children or wards, unless it is clearly in the child's
interest.
v) Editors must not use the fame, notoriety or position of a parent or guardian as sole
justification for publishing details of a child’s private life.
7 *Children in sex cases
1. The press must not, even if legally free to do so, identify children under 16
who are victims or witnesses in cases involving sex offences.
2. In any press report of a case involving a sexual offence against a child -
i) The child must not be identified.
ii) The adult may be identified.
iii) The word "incest" must not be used where a child victim might be identified.
iv) Care must be taken that nothing in the report implies the relationship between the
accused and the child.
8 *Hospitals
i) Journalists must identify themselves and obtain permission from a responsible
executive before entering non-public areas of hospitals or similar institutions to pursue
enquiries.
ii) The restrictions on intruding into privacy are particularly relevant to enquiries
about individuals in hospitals or similar institutions.
9 *Reporting of Crime
(i) Relatives or friends of persons convicted or accused of crime should not
generally be identified without their consent, unless they are genuinely relevant to the
story.
(ii) Particular regard should be paid to the potentially vulnerable position of children
who witness, or are victims of, crime. This should not restrict the right to report legal
proceedings.
10 *Clandestine devices and subterfuge
i) The press must not seek to obtain or publish material acquired by using hidden
cameras or clandestine listening devices; or by intercepting private or mobile telephone
calls, messages or emails; or by the unauthorised removal of documents or photographs; or
by accessing digitally-held private information without consent.
ii) Engaging in misrepresentation or subterfuge, including by agents or intermediaries,
can generally be justified only in the public interest and then only when the material
cannot be obtained by other means.
11 Victims of sexual assault
The press must not identify victims of sexual assault or publish material likely to
contribute to such identification unless there is adequate justification and they are
legally free to do so.
12 Discrimination
i) The press must avoid prejudicial or pejorative reference to an individual's
race, colour, religion, gender, sexual orientation or to any physical or mental illness
or disability.
ii) Details of an individual's race, colour, religion, sexual orientation, physical or
mental illness or disability must be avoided unless genuinely relevant to the
story.
13 Financial journalism
i) Even where the law does not prohibit it, journalists must not use for their own
profit financial information they receive in advance of its general publication, nor
should they pass such information to others.
ii) They must not write about shares or securities in whose performance they know that
they or their close families have a significant financial interest without disclosing the
interest to the editor or financial editor.
iii) They must not buy or sell, either directly or through nominees or agents, shares or
securities about which they have written recently or about which they intend to write in
the near future.
14 Confidential sources
Journalists have a moral obligation to protect confidential sources of
information.
15 Witness payments in criminal trials
i) No payment or offer of payment to a witness - or any person who may reasonably
be expected to be called as a witness - should be made in any case once proceedings are
active as defined by the Contempt of Court Act 1981.
This prohibition lasts until the suspect has been freed unconditionally by police without
charge or bail or the proceedings are otherwise discontinued; or has entered a guilty
plea to the court; or, in the event of a not guilty plea, the court has announced its
verdict.
*ii) Where proceedings are not yet active but are likely and foreseeable, editors must
not make or offer payment to any person who may reasonably be expected to be called as a
witness, unless the information concerned ought demonstrably to be published in the
public interest and there is an over-riding need to make or promise payment for this to
be done; and all reasonable steps have been taken to ensure no financial dealings
influence the evidence those witnesses give. In no circumstances should such payment be
conditional on the outcome of a trial.
*iii) Any payment or offer of payment made to a person later cited to give evidence in
proceedings must be disclosed to the prosecution and defence. The witness must be advised
of this requirement.
16 *Payment to criminals
i) Payment or offers of payment for stories, pictures or information, which seek to
exploit a particular crime or to glorify or glamorise crime in general, must not be made
directly or via agents to convicted or confessed criminals or to their associates – who
may include family, friends and colleagues.
ii) Editors invoking the public interest to justify payment or offers would need to
demonstrate that there was good reason to believe the public interest would be served.
If, despite payment, no public interest emerged, then the material should not be
published.
THE PUBLIC INTEREST
There may be exceptions to the clauses marked * where they can be demonstrated to be in
the public interest.
1. The public interest includes, but is not confined to:
i) Detecting or exposing crime or serious impropriety.
ii) Protecting public health and safety.
iii) Preventing the public from being misled by an action or statement of an individual
or organisation.
2. There is a public interest in freedom of expression itself.
3. Whenever the public interest is invoked, the PCC will require editors to demonstrate fully how the public interest was served.
4. The PCC will consider the extent to which material is already in the public domain, or will become so.
5. In cases involving children under 16, editors must demonstrate an exceptional public interest to over-ride the normally paramount interest of the child