PCC confirms website video remit

The Press Complaints Commission has confirmed it is to regulate audio visual material on newspaper and magazine websites.

The PCC released a guidance note today stating that the commission’s remit should cover online material which meets two main requirements: that the newspaper or magazine website’s editor is fully responsible for the its content under the terms of the Code and that material is not “pre-edited to conform to the on-line or off-line standards of another regulatory body.”

Chairman of PressBoF, which is responsible for setting the remit of press self regulation in the UK, Tim Bowdler, said: “It is extremely important that self regulation should evolve in a carefully considered manner to take account of the developing ways in which our publications, in print and on-line, communicate with readers. The purpose of the Guidance Note is to provide clarity for all parties in defining the PCC’s remit in this new territory”.

Sir Christopher Meyer, Chairman of the PCC, added: “The range and quality of digital editorial material offered by newspapers and magazines have expanded at a dizzying pace over the last couple of years. These developments will only accelerate. What the industry has done in announcing this extension of the PCC’s remit is to underline its confidence in the system of common-sense regulation that we operate, and to demonstrate to the public that editorial information in the digital age – regardless of the format in which it is delivered – will be subject to high professional standards overseen by the Commission”.