The Editors' Code of Practice

Question 1

Clause 1

Answer 1

Accuracy

i) must not publish inaccurate or misleading info, including images and headlines not supported by text
ii) significant inaccuracy must be promptly corrected and apology issues
iii) opportunity to reply to inaccuracies must be given
iv) distinguish between comment, fact and conjecture
v) report fairly and accurately outcome of defamation action to which it has been party, unless otherwise stated in the agreed settlement

Question 2

Clause 2

Answer 2

• Privacy
  i) everyone is entitled to respect for their private and family life, home, health and correspondence, including digital correspondence
  ii) editors will be expected to justify intrusions into an individual’s private life without consent. in considering someone’s reasonable expectation of privacy, account will be taken of that person’s public disclosures of info and the extent to which that info is already in the public domain or will become so.
  iii) it’s unacceptable to photograph individuals without their consent in a private or public place where there is a reasonable expectation of privacy.

Question 3

Clause 3

Answer 3

• Harassment
  i) journalists must not engage in intimidation, harassment or persistent pursuit
  ii) they must not persist in phoning or photographing or questioning etc a person once asked to desist. nor should they remain on property when asked to leave. they should identify themselves and who they work for if asked.
  iii) editors must be sure that those working for them abide by these rules and that they don’t use non-compliant info from another source

Question 4

Clause 4

Answer 4

Intrusion into grief and shock

in cases where some are suffering from grief or shock, approach and questioning should be handled with care and info should be published sensitively.
this should not impact on the right to report court proceedings.

Question 5

Clause 5

Answer 5

*Reporting Suicide
when reporting suicide care should be taken not to provide excessive detail of the method used in order to prevent simulative acts.
this should not impact on the right to report legal court proceedings.

Question 6

Clause 6

Answer 6

• Children
  i) all children have the right to complete their time at school without unnecessary intrusion
  ii) they must not be approached or photographed at school without permission from the school authorities.
  iii) children under 16 should not be interviewed or photographed on issues concerning their own or another child’s welfare without consent from parent or guardian
  iv) children shouldnt be paid for info about their own welfare, nor their parents/guardians, unless it is clearly in their interest.
  v) editors mustn’t use the celebrity status of a child’s parents are justification to publish personal details about the child’s life.

Question 7

Clause 7

Answer 7

*Children in sex cases
the press must not, even if they’re legally free to do so, identify a child under 16 who is a witness of victim in a sex case

in any press report of a sex offence against a child under 16 -

a) the child musn’t be identified
b) the adult may be identified
c) the word incest should never be used in case it leads to identification of child
d) care should be taken that nothing in the report identifies the relationship between the accused and child

Question 8

Clause 8

Answer 8

• Hospitals
  i) Journalists must identify themselves and obtain permission from responsible hospital executive before gaining access to non-public areas of the hospital

ii) restrictions in privacy particularly relevant for vulnerable folk in hospital

Question 9

Clause 9

Answer 9

• Reporting of Crime
  i) relatives and friends of those convicted or accused or crime should not generally be identified without their permission unless genuinely relevant to the story

ii) Particular regard should be paid to vulnerable people under age of 18 who witness or are a victim of a crime
iii) press should generally avoid naming a child under age of 18 who has been arrested for a criminal offence but is yet to appear in a youth court unless they can show name is already in the public domain

Question 10

Clause 10

Answer 10

• Clandestine Devices and Subterfuge
  i) the press should not seek to obtain info using underhand methods such as long lens cameras or clandestine listening devices or intercepting private calls and emails or by unauthorised removal of documents or photos.
  ii) engaging in misrepresentation can generally only be justified in the public interest and only then when the material could not be obtained in any other way

Question 11

Clause 11

Answer 11

Victims of Sexual Assault
press musnt publish info likely to identify a victim of sexual assault unless there’s adequate justification or they are legally free to do so. journalists are allowed to make enquiries but they must do so with care and discretion to avoid disclosing the identity of a victim of sexual assault

Question 12

Clause 12

Answer 12

Discrimination

i) press must avoid prejudicial or pejorative reference to someone’s race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion or mental health illness or disability
ii) details of a person’s gender identity, race, religion, sexual orientation, mental health illness or disability must be avoided unless genuinely relevant to the story

Question 13

Clause 13

Answer 13

Financial Journalism

i) journalists should not use financial info they receive in advance for their own profit, nor should they give information to others before publication
ii) they mustnt write about shares that they or their family have a strong personal interest in without first dislosing this interest to the editor
iii) they shouldnt buy or sell shares which they have recently written about or will write about in the near future

Question 14

Clause 14

Answer 14

Confidential Sources

journalists have a moral obligation to protect confidential sources of information

Question 15

Clause 15

Answer 15

Witness payments in criminal trials
i) no payment or offer of payment should be made to a witness or a potential witness once legal proceedings have been declared as ‘active’ according to contempt of court act 1981. this ban applies until the case ceases to be active.

ii) when proceedings are not yet active but are likely to become so soon, payment or offer of payment should not be made to any person who may be called upon as a witness in the trial. unless the information concerned ought to be published in the public interest and there is an over-riding need to make or promise payment for this to be done.
iii) any payment or offer of payment to a person later cited to appear as a witness in court must be disclosed to the prosecution and defence. witness should be advised of this requirment.

Question 16

Clause 16

Answer 16

• Payment to Criminals
  i) payment or offers of payment for information and/or pictures from a criminal in order to exploit a particular crime or glorify crime in general, must not be paid directly or via an agent to a confessed criminal or their associates.
  ii) editors who use the public interest to justify payment or offer of payment to criminals must demonstrate why they believed public interest would be served. if the payment is made and no public interest emerges then the info should not be published.

Question 17

Public Interest

Answer 17

1. The public interest includes, but is not confined to:

Detecting or exposing crime, or the threat of crime, or serious impropriety.
Protecting public health or safety.
Protecting the public from being misled by an action or statement of an individual or organisation.
Disclosing a person or organisation’s failure or likely failure to comply with any obligation to which they are subject.
Disclosing a miscarriage of justice.
Raising or contributing to a matter of public debate, including serious cases of impropriety, unethical conduct or incompetence concerning the public.
Disclosing concealment, or likely concealment, of any of the above.

2. There is a public interest in freedom of expression itself.
3. The regulator will consider the extent to which material is already in the public domain or will become so.
4. journalists/editors invoking public interest will need to show why they believed publication would serve the public interest and explain how they reached the decision at the time.
5. an exceptional public interest would need to be displayed in order to justify the normally paramount interests of children under 16.