The Press Complaints Commission, the UK newspaper industry's self-regulatory body, will close following the phone hacking scandal and be replaced by a transitional body. The transitional body will oversee press regulation until a new permanent system is established by the Leveson inquiry into press ethics. The closure of the Press Complaints Commission represents an opportunity for the newspaper industry to rebuild public trust. Issues around statutory underpinning and powers of the proposed new regulatory body remain to be determined.

1. Press Complaints Commission to close in wake of phone-hacking scandal | Media | The Guardian 11/03/2012 22:55
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Press Complaints Commission to close
in wake of phone-hacking scandal
Media watchdog will be replaced by transitional body until
replacement is set up after Leveson inquiry
Lisa O'Carroll
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 8 March 2012 10.59 GMT
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The PCC chairman, Lord Hunt, says the parts of the self-regulatory body that have worked will be retained.
Photograph: Martin Godwin for the Guardian
The Press Complaints Commission is to be shut down after 21 years, closing one of the
most controversial chapters in the history of self regulation of the UK newspaper
industry.
The watchdog, which was fatally wounded by its response to the phone-hacking scandal,
has confirmed that it will formally close and be replaced with a transitional body which
will take charge of press regulation until a new system is set up in the wake of the
Leveson inquiry.
The long-term replacement for the PCC is not expected to be up and running for at least
a year and may not be in place until 2014 if statutes are needed for a proposed
arbitration unit offering a libel resolution service.
In the meantime the newspaper industry has decided that closing the existing self-
regulatory body will offer the press a clean break from the past and an opportunity to
regain the confidence of the public.
An accelerated shutdown of the PCC was agreed earlier this year and formally approved
at a meeting of the commission on Wednesday.
The PCC chairman, Lord Hunt, told Sky News at the end of February that a decision in
principle to move to a new body had been taken.
"So we're very much now on the front foot and listening to all sides and determined to
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2. Press Complaints Commission to close in wake of phone-hacking scandal | Media | The Guardian 11/03/2012 22:55
bring forward the sort of independent self-regulatory structure that everyone will
approve of," he said then.
Lord Hunt may have to reapply for his job once the transition process is complete, PCC
insiders indicated. For now, the transition body will not have a full-time director to
replace the recently departed Stig Abell – and instead be run by three people, Michael
McManus, a former Conservative special adviser, who is director of transition, with
Jonathan Collett, the director of communications, who has previously acted as press
adviser to former Conservative leader Michael Howard, and Charlotte Dewar, the head
of complaints who previously worked at the Guardian.
Richard Desmond's Express and Star titles, the only major publisher to have been
outside the PCC, remain in negotiations to sign up to the successor body. The idea is
that all publishers will sign up to the new body via a contract, lasting several years,
which will give the new body greater powers of sanction over errant publishers.
Their transition body will take on the assets and liabilities of the old PCC. Its name has
not yet been determined and the body is canvassing for suggestions.
The name of the new body and its structure have not been finalised but Hunt said the
parts of the PCC that had worked would be retained, including the complaints
resolution service.
"I'm determined that we should make sure that we still keep those procedures which
80%, 85% of people who have used them have found so helpful – pre-publication action
and various other ways," he said.
He confirmed that the industry was working on long-term proposals for a replacement
regulator which would have three units: one dealing with standards and compliance,
one representing complaints and mediation and one offering legally binding solutions to
libel complaints through arbitration.
The libel unit is creating the most debate at the Leveson inquiry. Legally it is not clear if
a cheap and quick libel service can be set up without statutory changes.
The industry is divided between those who accept that some form of statutory
underpinning for the new regulatory system is needed, and others who warn that it
would be a slippery slope towards government control of the press.
Significant questions remain about whether a regulator can force a potential litigant to
accept arbitration instead of taking court action.
Lionel Barber, the editor of the Financial Times, is among those who have warned that a
self-regulated arbitration unit would not be attractive to big City firms or Russian
oligarchs who have the money to fund high court libel actions, which can cost
newspapers millions to defend.
Lord Justice Leveson is expected to publish his findings in October and may
recommend some sort of statutory regulation to enable a new body to include a legally
binding libel arbitration arm.
The Liberal Democrats are pushing for parliamentary time to be reserved early next
year to discuss the Leveson report so potential legislation could be introduced into
parliament the following year.
© 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.
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