The Press Complaints Commission (PCC) has used its powers over
newspaper web content to uphold a complaint against the Scarborough
Evening News.
Carolyn Popple's home was raided by police, who invited the
newspaper along. Still pictures were taken and published in the
newspaper and video footage of the inside of Popple's house was
published on the paper's website.
The newspaper included the footage and pictures in its coverage
of a series of police drugs raids even though Popple was never
charged. The police had told her that a small amount of cannabis
had been found in the house but she said she did not know how it
got there.
The Scarborough Evening News said that the police had invited it
to cover the raid, and that there was a public interest in the
showing of the footage and photographs because drugs had been found
at the house.
"Showing a video and publishing a picture of the interior of the
complainant’s house, without her consent, was clearly highly
intrusive, particularly when the coverage contained information
likely to identify her address," said the PCC's ruling. "The fact
that the police had invited the newspaper on the raid explained how
the footage had been obtained, but it did not absolve the editor of
responsibility for ensuring that the subsequent publication of the
material complied with the Code."
The PCC is the newspaper industry's self-regulatory body,
holding member publishers to its Code of Conduct. Since February
2007 it has regulated not just printed content but also audio and
video content published online under the editorial direction of
newspaper staff. It does not regulate user-submitted and unedited
content.
"The relevant consideration was whether there was a sufficient
public interest in the story to justify the degree of intrusion,"
said the PCC ruling.
"The Commission considered that, while it may have been in the
public interest to illustrate the police campaign against drugs,
insufficient regard had been paid to the complainant’s right to
privacy in this case. Showing the video of the complainant’s home
involved a degree of intrusion that was out of proportion to any
such public interest," it said.
The PCC has already admonished another newspaper on the basis of
its regulation of online video content. It told the Hamilton
Advertiser last year that it had broken its code when it published
a full, unedited video of an unruly local classroom.
It said the publication of that video invaded the privacy of
pupils in the classroom.
