Issues
- Accuracy 4148 complaints
- Privacy 821 complaints
- Intrusion into grief or shock 390 complaints
- Children 228 complaints
- Harassment 164 complaints
- Discrimination 130 complaints
- Clandestine devices and subterfuge 99 complaints
- Opportunity to reply 83 complaints
- Reporting of Crime 78 complaints
- Payment to criminals 40 complaints
- Victims of sexual assault 34 complaints
- Hospitals 32 complaints
- Confidential sources 17 complaints
- Children in sex cases 13 complaints
- Witness payments in criminal trials 13 complaints
- Financial journalism 3 complaints
(from the PCC Editors' Code of Practice)
Top publications
- Daily Mail 489 complaints
- The Sun 302 complaints
- Daily Mirror 171 complaints
- The Daily Telegraph 163 complaints
- The Mail on Sunday 159 complaints
- News of the World 142 complaints
- The Times 123 complaints
- Evening Standard 122 complaints
- Daily Express 111 complaints
- The Guardian 99 complaints
Top tags
- Inaccuracy 2679 complaints
- Privacy 555 complaints
- Photograph 324 complaints
- Children 208 complaints
- Legal 199 complaints
- Death 197 complaints
- Celebrity 186 complaints
- Grief 180 complaints
- Factual error 162 complaints
- Intrusion 142 complaints
Example model complaints:
These are some high profile cases the PCC has dealt with in recent years. We have gone through them to add as much contextual information as possible.
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Clare Balding v The Sunday Times Sept. 17, 2010
Adjudication upheld against the Sunday Times after Clare Balding complained about A A Gill's article referring to her as a 'dyke on a bike' as being discriminatory, as it was clearly used in a pejorative manner. -
Heather Mills v The Mail on Sunday June 3, 2010
Adjudication not upheld against The Mail on Sunday after Heather Mills complained of inaccuracies in a report saying that Piers Morgan had introduced her to Paul McCartney. It was not upheld since it was not in dispute that it was at an event organised by Mr Morgan's newspaper that Sir Paul had seen Ms Mills for the first time. -
Andrew Cowles v Daily Mail Feb. 19, 2010
Adjudication not upheld against the Daily Mail after complaints were made that Jan Moir's article about Stephen Gately's death was inaccurate and homophobic, as it was based on what was known at the time, and it only used critical innuendo and was not discriminatory of the individual, so did not breach the code. -
Fabio Capello v Daily Mail Dec. 31, 2009
The Daily Mail apologised to the Capellos and donated money to the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation after their complaint about intrusive images taken of them on holiday. -
John Terry v The Sun April 30, 2009
Adjudication not upheld against the Sun about the complaint made by John Terry that he was irrelevant to a story about his relatives shoplifting. PCC concluded he was relevant to the story and it did not reveal any connections which were not already public.
We will be marking up other cases in the database throughout the year. If you have suggestions for what we should include, please get in touch
