United Kingdom – (E7) Code of ethics at the national level (structure)

There is no shortage of detailed guidelines about journalistic standards and ethics. The BBC has a comprehensive set of Editorial Guidelines (230 pages long!), outlining the standards the BBC expects of all BBC content on TV, radio and online.¹⁶ The Guidelines contain sections on the BBC’s editorial values, accuracy, impartiality and diversity of opinion, fairness, privacy, harm and offence, and a host of other matters, including the reporting of war and terror.¹⁷ Ofcom, the regulator of all UK licensed private television providers, also implements a Broadcasting Code (109 pages long), serving the same purposes.¹⁸ UK newspapers are signed up to the editorial code of the Press Complaints Commission (PCC), an industry funded body whose board is composed of 10 lay members and seven editors. The PCC operates a Code of Practice for journalists and deals with complaints from members of the public. Complaints are adjudicated by reference to its Code of Practice. The Code is written and revised by the Editors’ Code Committee, composed of editors of national, regional and local newspapers and the Chairman and Director of the PCC. The Code consists of 16 clauses, which include provisions on accuracy, opportunity to reply, privacy, the use of clandestine devices and subterfuge, discrimination, financial journalism, and the protection of confidential sources. However, the Code is not binding in law and judges are not obliged to take account of PCC adjudications. Nor does the PCC have the power to issue fines or punish other than public ‘naming and shaming’. The National Union of Journalists also has an Ethics Council and Code, which sets out the principles of responsible independent journalism, and all journalists have to agree to uphold its terms when they join the union. Unlike the PCC Code, the NUJ code includes a “conscience clause” which states that journalist have a right to refuse work that would break the letter or spirit of the code. It states: “The NUJ will fully support any journalist disciplined for asserting her/his right to act according to the code.”