The Press Complaints Commission (PCC) was established in January 1991 to adjudicate on complaints from the public about newspapers and magazines - a narrower brief than its predecessor, the Press Council. The PCC polices the Editor's Code of Practice, published by the Press Standards Board of Finance Ltd (PressBof). In February 2007, it extended its remit to include the editorial and audio-visual material of newspaper and magazine websites. From 2003-April 2009 the Chair was Sir Christopher Meyer. Since April 2009, Baroness Peta Buscombe has been Chair.

The Editor's Code of Practice Committee has its own website, where you can find the Editor's Codebook - the official handbook to the Editors' Code and the way it works in practice.

Annual Reports

• Annual Reports
  Archive of reports from 1996 to the present
• Charter Commissioner and Charter Compliance Panel Annual Reports
  Archive from 2004 to the present (scroll down)
• MediaWise response to the Annual Report 2005
  Letter printed in the Press Gazette, 9 June 2006
• A Lethal Cocktail
  Julian Petley reviews the PCC's Annual Report 2002

Editor's Code of Practice reviews

• 2009
• Editor's Code of Practice Committee announce changes to the Code (pdf)
• 2006
• MediaWise submission to the Editor's Code Committee
  Recommendations for changes to the Code of Practice, January 2006
• CPBF submission to the Editor's Code Committee
  Recommendations from Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, January 2006
• 2004
• MediaWise response to the new code 
  Press release, 13 May 2004
• Result of the 2004 Code Review
  Press release from the Editor's Code of Practice Committee, 12 May 2004
• MediaWise submission to the Editor's Code Committee
  Recommendations for changes to the Code of Practice, April 2004

Changes to the Code

• New time limits for complaints
  Press release from the PCC, 22 July 2004

Complaints

• PCC rejects complaint on Daily Express 'Bombers' headline
  Details of the CPBF complaint, rejected on 15 November 2005

Governance Review 2010

• Details of the review, plus the MediaWise submission to the panel
• The governance of the Press Complaints Commission: an independent review (pdf)
  Final report of the Governance Review Panel, 7 July 2010

Guidance notes

• The extension of the PCC’s remit to include editorial audio-visual material on newspaper and magazine websites (2007)
• On reporting mental health issues (2006)
• Best practice note on editorial co-operation (2005)
• Financial Journalism (2005)
• Data Protection Act, journalism and the PCC Code (2004)
• Lottery Winners (2004)
• On the reporting of people accused of crime (2004)
• Refugees and asylum seekers (2003)
• The judiciary and harassment (2003)
• On the reporting of cases involving paedophiles (2000)
• Prince William and privacy (1999)
• Reporting of international sporting events (1998)
• Court reporting (1994)

Right of reply

• Why press regulation needs to be reformed
  By Peter Bradley MP, launching his Right of Reply Bill, The Guardian, 22 February 2005
• Why scrapping the PCC would be a mistake
  Reply to Peter Bradley from Tim Toulmin, Director, PCC, The Guardian, 24 February 2005

PCC and Freedom of Information

• The PCC and the Freedom of Information Act
  MediaWise trustee Julian Petley argues for a PCC bound by the FOI Act, 21 February 2005

About the PCC

• Press standards, privacy and libel
  Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee report, 24 February 2010
• PCC response to the Committee report
• Strong public support for press regulatory reform
  Media Standards Trust poll on public attitudes to the PCC, 21 January 2010
• A More Accountable Press 
  Report on media regulation and public trust by the Media Standards Trust, 9 February 2009
• PCC Chair responds to MST report
• Press must do more to entrench self-regulation
  Speech by Sir Christopher Meyer, Manchester Art Gallery, 24 November 2008
• Whose side is the PCC on?
  By Roy Greenslade, Guardian media commentator and MediaWise trustee, 16 February 2004
• PressWise submission to Select Committee investigating Privacy & Media Intrusion
  Includes recommendations for reforming media regulation, prepared February 2003
• Press Complaints Commission Procedures
  Commentary derived from House of Lords debate on Mary Bell Case, 7 January 1999
• Press Complaints Commission: History and Procedural Reform
  Submission to the PCC in Autumn 1995 for reform of its procedures; redrafted 1999