Sir Christopher Meyer’s speech in full: plea to publishers to aid PCC

As reported on the main page, Sir Christopher Meyer will tonight urge publications to support the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) in its role, which he emphasises is still relevant in light of online developments and recent privacy issues. Here is his speech in full, courtesy of the PCC’s website:

“It is always a pleasure to be in Manchester – a city with a vibrant media which I have visited more than any other in England during my time chairing the PCC. It was in this very room five years ago that I launched the first of our Open Days: public meetings in the towns and cities of the UK aimed at making the PCC as accessible as possible. Then, as now, we were given all possible support by the Manchester Evening News and Paul Horrocks. One of the most respected and innovative editors in Britain, Paul was also an outstanding member of the PCC for four years.

It has always been my ambition to hold a full meeting of the PCC outside London. It is vital to get over the message that we are not a body shut away inside a metropolitan bubble, dealing with the complaints of celebrities, royals (and near-royals), and politicians. The reality is far different. We exist for all the citizens of the United Kingdom; and of the thousands who come to us for help and advice, over 90 per cent lay no claim to celebrity whatsoever.

So, tomorrow’s meeting of the PCC is an historic moment in the 17-year life of our organisation. My colleagues from the board, all/most of whom are present tonight, are the people who take the decisions under the Code of Practice: about where the public interest meets the individual’s right to privacy; what constitutes a significant inaccuracy; when payments for information can be made – in short, on how the UK’s newspapers and magazines should gather and report news in print and online.

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The draft Terrorism Act 2000 guidance: what’s happening?

Photojournalist Marc Vallée updates us on the implications of the terrorism laws, for photographers and journalists, over on our main site.

Today, the Home Office had intended to publish new operational guidance to the police on the use of stop and search powers under section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 for those taking photographs in public places.

Here you can read the details of the draft guidance, with Marc’s comments:

Details of the draft guidance, as originally published on his own blog:

“There is no power under the Terrorism Act 2000 to prohibit people from taking photographs or digital images in an area where an authority under section 44 is in place.

“If officers reasonably suspect that photographs are being taken as part of hostile terrorist reconnaissance then they should act appropriately, by searching the person under Section 43 of the Terrorism Act or making an arrest. Cameras, film and memory cards may be seized as evidence but there is no power for images to be deleted or film to be destroyed by officers.”

MV: What if section 43 with its powers to seize ‘cameras, film and memory cards’ is misused in the same way that section 44 has been misused by the police? Just think of the chilling effect this will have on photography in a public place.

Then, to Clause 75 (amended in committee – 22.10.08) of the new Counter-Terrorism Bill 2008.

(1) A person commits an offence who:

(a) elicits or attempts to elicit information about an individual who is or has been:

(i) a member of Her Majesty’s forces
(ii) a member of any of the intelligence services, or
(iii) a constable

MV: A ‘Constable’ is the legal term for all police officers. Elicits or attempts to elicit information: ‘does that include taking a photograph and publishing it?

(b) publishes or communicates any such information.

MV: You can get 10 years for this one! And I almost forgot, every police force in Britain is going to be equipped with mobile fingerprint scanners which will allow the police to carry out identity checks on people on the street. I think I’m going to need to get myself a desk job!

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NUJ release video showing police treatment of journalists

As reported in Press Gazette, the NUJ’s General Secretary, Jeremy Dear, used his appearance on Monday at the the TUC Congress Conference 2008 to call for a motion against the erosion of journalists’ civil liberties and media freedom in Britain.

In a follow-up, the NUJ yesterday released this video, ‘Press Freedom: Collateral Damage’ by Jason N Parkinson : nine minutes of film documenting the treatment of journalists by police.

The film highlights a number of incidents in which the NUJ feel the police unnecessarily obstructed reporters and photographers.

The NUJ motion identified the cases of Robin Ackroyd and Shiv Malik, who have both risked jail because of the legal requirement to reveal confidential information from sources. In his speech to the Congress, Dear also referred to Sally Murrer, a journalist who is facing criminal prosecution for receiving information from a police source.

“Journalism is facing grave threats in an age of intolerance,” Jeremy Dear said in the NUJ’s statement.  “Whilst on the streets dissent is being criminalized, independent journalism is being increasingly caught in the civil liberties clampdown,” he said.

Members of the TUC conference unanimously backed the NUJ’s motion on Monday. The NUJ statement, with more excerpts from Dear’s speech, can be read here.

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Random journalising: another case of journalists misrepresenting stats

Ben Goldacre highlighted another case of statistics used badly in the Guardian on Saturday: the claim that Britain’s happiest places have been mapped by scientists, according to the BBC and many newspapers.

Erm, says Ben Goldacre, there’s a slight problem with that. He shows how sampling has yet again been misused by journalists. “This entire news story was based on nothing more than random variation,” he reports.

“This is called sampling error, and it quietly undermines almost every piece of survey data ever covered in any newspaper.”

When Goldacre talked to the scientist behind the research, Dr Dimitris Ballas, he said: “I tried to explain issues of significance to the journalists who interviewed me. Most did not want to know.”

‘Ithika’, originally flagged this up, posting in the Bad Science forum and has written about it at dougalstanton.net.  APGaylard and Gimpy have also blogged about it on their sites.

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Guardian: James Murdoch calls daily/Sunday integrations ‘cost-cutting exercises’

James Murdoch has spoken out against integrating daily and Sunday newspapers into seven-day operations, dismissing the process as “cost-cutting exercises”.

He told staff at its UK newspaper division News International that the introduction of integrated seven-day operations in Britain had “diminished daily and Sunday rivals”.

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Associated Newspapers claim monthly reach of 22 million

Associated Newspapers websites and print editions claim to reach a combined audience of 22 million adults a month – 45 per cent of all adults in Great Britain, according to figures released by the group’s digital division today.

The survey of 60,000 readers, which was conducted across Associated Northcliffe Digital’s (AND) network of 38 websites, used a questionnaire to profile the age, online behaviour and print reading habits of respondents.

Those polled were also questioned about specific subject areas of the larger sites to investigate how users differ between these sections.

The information gathered will be used to create advertising campaigns relevant to several sites or areas, a press release from the company said.

The final figures were produced by Survey Interactive, which is also involved in developing a new audience measurement tool for Trinity Mirror’s websites.

Speaking to Journalism.co.uk last month, Guy Lipscombe, managing director of Survey Interactive, said the polling technology can give figures on the ‘unduplicated reach’ of a title – the number of unique users to a site who do not also read a print edition.

The system, he said, is based on ‘measuring the people not computers’ who view a site, preventing duplicate records as a person accesses a site across a range of devices.

However, it is unclear as to how information would be gathered to disregard users that read both the print and online versions. Wouldn’t it be more interesting to see these ‘unduplicated’ stats?

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