The PCC (Press Complaints Commission) used to only have the power to tell off newspaper publishers for anything put into print, however six months ago, their remit was broadened to include audio and video material papers publish on their internet sites.
The first case to involve these powers was a complaint against The Hamilton Advertiser, that showed video secretly shot in a class room by a pupil. The problem was that the class appeared to have little control placed on it by the teacher present, and the pupils became very rowdy. The pupil that videoed the incident on their mobile phone was apparently trying to prove to her parents that the recent drop in grades was not down to her.
Unfortunately, the Hamilton Adviser published the video without any pixelation, that is to say you could clearly see the faces of both pupils and the teacher. It was this point that the PCC considered most relevant when they passed judgement against the newspaper. Although I am all for the concept of news papers using all the available mediums to get their message across, I do wonder what the editor was thinking when he allowed the video footage to go straight onto the site, without any anonymisation at all.
Aug 16 2007
PCC Tests New Teeth
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