Its purpose is to open up the workings of the Commission, so that there can be better awareness of the public service offered by the PCC. With that in mind, the Review has been divided into three sections: an open letter from the PCC Chairman, Baroness Buscombe (pictured), setting out her personal thoughts on the previous year; a detailed statistical analysis of complaints figures and of key rulings made in 2009; and a look "behind the scenes" of how the work of the PCC is carried out.
The Review also appears online at www.pcc.org.uk/review09. It has been accompanied for the first time by a podcast hosted by media commentator Roy Greenslade, who interviews the Chairman and the Director. The aim is to increase transparency further by allowing an independent figure to ask questions about all that the PCC does.
Some key statistics that come out of the Review are that:
• the PCC made 1731 rulings in 2009. In those cases the PCC required remedial action or criticised the editor in regard of 43% of the complaints;
• the PCC resolved over 600 complaints to the satisfaction of the complainant;
• a customer survey showed that 80% of complainants said that the complaint had been dealt with thoroughly or very thoroughly;
• the vast majority (83.9%) of corrections and apologies appeared either further forward than the offending material, on the same page or in a dedicated corrections column;
• the PCC dealt with substantive complaints in an average of 18.4 working days (set against its target of 35 days);
• over 50% of all investigations were into national titles; 33% concerned regional titles in England and Wales.
Commenting in the Annual Review:
Baroness Peta Buscombe, Chairman of the PCC, said, "I hope that the next year will see the (PCC) service adapt and improve further. I hope too that we will see greater understanding and appreciation of the public service the PCC provides."
Stephen Abell, Director of the PCC, said, "The PCC is, in the end, a pragmatic institution, experienced in the day-to-day activity of addressing concerns about the newspaper and magazine industry. We achieve a considerable body of work, and want that to be out in the open for everyone to see."
