PCC response to phone hacking controversy 'weakened its credibility'
Press Complaints Commission's actions also 'revealed major failings in its ways of operating', claims independent report
Read the full International Federation of Journalists report
The Press Complaints Commission's actions over the phone-hacking controversy has "weakened its credibility" and "revealed major failings in its mandate and its ways of operating", according to an independent report.
An examination of how the PCC, the newspaper industry's self-regulating body, reacted to the phone hacking of celebrities by the News of the Word, concludes it is "in need of urgent reform to enhance the reputation of British journalism".
Commissioned by the International Federation of Journalists, it claims the watchdog body must establish its independence from the British press industry and be more "transparent" about its funding".
Its publication follows last week's damning report by the Commons culture, media and sport select committee into press standards, privacy and libel, which condemned the "collective amnesia" and "deliberate obfuscation" by News International witnesses giving evidence on phone hacking at the News Group newspaper.
MPs concluded there was evidence to suggest phone hacking was more widespread at the Sunday tabloid than officially acknowledged. The News of the World has always maintained no one at the newspaper, other that its royal editor Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, were involved. Both men were jailed in 2007 – Goodman for hacking into the private voicemails of aides to Princes William and Harry, and Mulcaire for hacking into the voicemails of other celebrities.
The select committee also criticised the PCC's inquiry into the phone-hacking allegations, as "simplistic, surprising, and a further failure of self regulation".
The IFJ report, compiled by Brussels-based journalist Jean-Paul Marthoz, examined two "inquiries" conducted by the PCC. The first was after the jailing of Goodman and Mulcaire. The second followed revelations by the Guardian that the News of the World had paid out £1m in costs and damages to Gordon Taylor, chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association, and two others, in secret out-of-court settlements following phone hacking allegations. Both were "wholly inadequate", it said.
Of the first, into the extent of phone hacking, the PCC concluded that it "seemed to involve just 'two bad apples' in an otherwise virtuous Garden of Eden", said the IFJ report. It criticised the PCC for not digging deeply enough, and questioned whether it was "really an 'investigation'" or merely 'a survey'". The PCC appeared "too mild-mannered", while a proper investigation should have involved summoning Andy Coulson, then editor of the News of the World who resigned after the convictions of Goodman and Mulcaire. Now David Cameron's director of communications, Coulson has always said he knew nothing of the illegal hacking. An "investigation" would also have requested "invoices, email traffic, phone logs, fee payments and much more", said the report.
The second inquiry was to establish, following the Guardian's revelations, if the PCC had been "misled" by assurances from the News of the World that no one other than Goodman and Mulcaire were involved.
But, said Marthoz, "In this case, it seems too eager to prove the Guardian wrong and comes to its conclusions – that it was not misled – with too much haste and without having carried out a more thorough investigation than it did in 2007.
"In fact the PCC inquiry seemed bent on minimising the newness of the Guardian's revelations in July 2009 and the scope of the News of the World eavesdropping operation."
Aidan White, IFJ general secretary, said: "It is clear that the PCC got itself into the no man's land of ethical journalism. Our report shows that it was hopelessly caught between two forces at work in journalism that pull in diametrically opposing directions. In doing so it exposed its own profound weakness as a credible self-regulator."
A spokesman for the PCC said: "We do not regard the report, which appears to be a subjective compendium of previously published criticism of the PCC, as particularly authoritative. However, as we have made clear before, we are in the process of examining the conclusions and recommendations of the select committee and are undergoing an independent governance review. The PCC is committed to ensuring that it offers the best possible service to the public, and will take on board all relevant comment and constructive criticism to improve."
Marthoz said: "A criticial moment has arrived and the case for reform of the PCC seems to be unanswerable."
He highlighted a number of key reforms that could rebuild trust in the self-regulatory body, including adopting the right for reply for people who are victims of press misbehaviour, a clause of conscience to allow journalists to opt out of unethical working practice and for more transparency in all areas of its operational work."
He also argues it needed to have "the power and mandate" to carry out "proper investigations", and described its inquiries into the hacking affair as "wholly inadequate".
"The time has come for partisans of self-regulation to demonstrate the value of journalism as a public good," he concluded, "and the media's real commitment to the highest ethical standards in a profession that is a key pillar of a vibrant and principled democracy".
Caroline Davies
Monday 1 March 2010 18.40 GMT
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2010
Press Complaints Commission's actions also 'revealed major failings in its ways of operating', claims independent report
Read the full International Federation of Journalists report
The Press Complaints Commission's actions over the phone-hacking controversy has "weakened its credibility" and "revealed major failings in its mandate and its ways of operating", according to an independent report.
An examination of how the PCC, the newspaper industry's self-regulating body, reacted to the phone hacking of celebrities by the News of the Word, concludes it is "in need of urgent reform to enhance the reputation of British journalism".
Commissioned by the International Federation of Journalists, it claims the watchdog body must establish its independence from the British press industry and be more "transparent" about its funding".
Its publication follows last week's damning report by the Commons culture, media and sport select committee into press standards, privacy and libel, which condemned the "collective amnesia" and "deliberate obfuscation" by News International witnesses giving evidence on phone hacking at the News Group newspaper.
MPs concluded there was evidence to suggest phone hacking was more widespread at the Sunday tabloid than officially acknowledged. The News of the World has always maintained no one at the newspaper, other that its royal editor Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, were involved. Both men were jailed in 2007 – Goodman for hacking into the private voicemails of aides to Princes William and Harry, and Mulcaire for hacking into the voicemails of other celebrities.
The select committee also criticised the PCC's inquiry into the phone-hacking allegations, as "simplistic, surprising, and a further failure of self regulation".
The IFJ report, compiled by Brussels-based journalist Jean-Paul Marthoz, examined two "inquiries" conducted by the PCC. The first was after the jailing of Goodman and Mulcaire. The second followed revelations by the Guardian that the News of the World had paid out £1m in costs and damages to Gordon Taylor, chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association, and two others, in secret out-of-court settlements following phone hacking allegations. Both were "wholly inadequate", it said.
Of the first, into the extent of phone hacking, the PCC concluded that it "seemed to involve just 'two bad apples' in an otherwise virtuous Garden of Eden", said the IFJ report. It criticised the PCC for not digging deeply enough, and questioned whether it was "really an 'investigation'" or merely 'a survey'". The PCC appeared "too mild-mannered", while a proper investigation should have involved summoning Andy Coulson, then editor of the News of the World who resigned after the convictions of Goodman and Mulcaire. Now David Cameron's director of communications, Coulson has always said he knew nothing of the illegal hacking. An "investigation" would also have requested "invoices, email traffic, phone logs, fee payments and much more", said the report.
The second inquiry was to establish, following the Guardian's revelations, if the PCC had been "misled" by assurances from the News of the World that no one other than Goodman and Mulcaire were involved.
But, said Marthoz, "In this case, it seems too eager to prove the Guardian wrong and comes to its conclusions – that it was not misled – with too much haste and without having carried out a more thorough investigation than it did in 2007.
"In fact the PCC inquiry seemed bent on minimising the newness of the Guardian's revelations in July 2009 and the scope of the News of the World eavesdropping operation."
Aidan White, IFJ general secretary, said: "It is clear that the PCC got itself into the no man's land of ethical journalism. Our report shows that it was hopelessly caught between two forces at work in journalism that pull in diametrically opposing directions. In doing so it exposed its own profound weakness as a credible self-regulator."
A spokesman for the PCC said: "We do not regard the report, which appears to be a subjective compendium of previously published criticism of the PCC, as particularly authoritative. However, as we have made clear before, we are in the process of examining the conclusions and recommendations of the select committee and are undergoing an independent governance review. The PCC is committed to ensuring that it offers the best possible service to the public, and will take on board all relevant comment and constructive criticism to improve."
Marthoz said: "A criticial moment has arrived and the case for reform of the PCC seems to be unanswerable."
He highlighted a number of key reforms that could rebuild trust in the self-regulatory body, including adopting the right for reply for people who are victims of press misbehaviour, a clause of conscience to allow journalists to opt out of unethical working practice and for more transparency in all areas of its operational work."
He also argues it needed to have "the power and mandate" to carry out "proper investigations", and described its inquiries into the hacking affair as "wholly inadequate".
"The time has come for partisans of self-regulation to demonstrate the value of journalism as a public good," he concluded, "and the media's real commitment to the highest ethical standards in a profession that is a key pillar of a vibrant and principled democracy".
Caroline Davies
Monday 1 March 2010 18.40 GMT
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2010
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