imported>Rublamb: Changing short description from "British voluntary press organisation that was succeeded by the Press Complaints Commission in 1990" to "British press organisation (1953–1990)"

2025-06-26T17:04:45Z

Changing short description from "British voluntary press organisation that was succeeded by the Press Complaints Commission in 1990" to "British press organisation (1953–1990)"

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{{Short description|British press organisation (1953–1990)}}
'''The Press Council''' was a British voluntary press organisation founded under threat of statutory regulation as the General Council in 1953, with a non-binding regulatory framework. Through most of its history the council was funded by newspaper proprietors, with the stated aim of maintaining high standards of ethics in journalism. The General Council was reformed as the Press Council in 1962, with 20 per cent lay members. In 1980 the [[National Union of Journalists]] withdrew from membership. In 1991, the Press Council was replaced by the [[Press Complaints Commission]].

== First era: 1947–1962 ==
The first [[Royal Commission on the Press]] recommended in 1949 that a General Council of the Press should be formed to govern the behaviour of the print media. In response to a threat of statutory regulation, the General Council of the Press was formed in 1953, membership being restricted to newspaper editors, funded by newspaper proprietors. By the time of the Second [[Royal Commission on the Press]] in 1962, the General Council had been subject to considerable criticism. The commission's report demanded improvement, particularly the inclusion of members that were not employed by print media.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+Chairmen of the General Council of the Press<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Press and the People|publisher=General Council of the Press|year=1959|location=London}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=The Press and the People|publisher=General Council of the Press|year=1963|location=London}}</ref>
!Name
!Dates of Service
!Note
|-
|[[John Jacob Astor, 1st Baron Astor of Hever|Colonel J.J. Astor]]
|1953–1955
|Resigned due to ill health
|-
|[[Linton Andrews|Sir Linton Andrews]]
|1955–1959
|Previously served as Vice-chairman
|-
|George Murray
|1959–1962
|Previously served as Vice-chairman
|}

== Second era: 1962–1980 ==
In 1962, following the recommendations of the [[Royal Commission on the Press, United Kingdom|Second Royal Commission on the Press]], the Press Council was formed. Twenty percent of the membership were required to be lay members, who were not employed by a newspaper.

In the latter half of 1967, the Press Council Headquarters were moved from [[Ludgate House]] to [[Salisbury Square]], a location the Press Council described as the 'very centre of London's newspaper land'.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Press and the People|publisher=The Press Council|year=1967|location=London|pages=9}}</ref>

During this period the Press Council published a series of guidance booklets.

* Contempt of Court (1967)
* Privacy (1971)
* Defamation (1973)

The Press Council was criticised extensively in the [[Younger report on Privacy]] in 1973<ref>{{cite journal|title=The Younger Committee Report on Privacy|jstor=1093890|journal=UK Parliament Committee Reports|publisher=Modern Law Review|volume=36|pages=399–406|last1=Dworkin|first1=Gerald|year=1973|issue=4}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=PRIVACY (YOUNGER REPORT) HC Deb 13 July 1973 vol 859 cc1955-2058|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1973/jul/13/privacy-younger-report|work=[[Hansard|Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)]]|publisher=HMSO|date=13 July 1973|access-date=23 July 2011}}</ref> and in the report of the [[Royal Commission on the Press, United Kingdom|Third Royal Commission on the Press]], in 1977. The third Commission urged the development of a written Code of Practice. The Press Council rejected this proposal, and in 1980, the NUJ withdrew from membership on the grounds that the council was incapable of reform.<ref>{{cite web|title=Self-Regulation of the Press|url=http://www.politics.co.uk/reference/self-regulation-of-the-press|work=Politics Issue Brief|publisher=Politics.co.uk|access-date=23 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707002710/http://www.politics.co.uk/reference/self-regulation-of-the-press|archive-date=7 July 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>

== Third era: 1980–1991 ==
The Press Council had lost the confidence of many in the media,<ref>{{cite news|last=Greenslade|first=Roy|title=How many mistakes can a press council make?|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2007/sep/28/howmanymistakescanapress|work=Guardian|publisher=Guardian|access-date=23 July 2011|location=London|date=28 September 2007}}</ref> and the 1980s saw what people labelled as some of the worst excesses of unethical journalism and intrusions into privacy by the tabloid press. In response to two Private Members' Bills promoting privacy laws, the government set up a committee chaired by [[David Calcutt]] QC to investigate in 1989. At the same time, under the chairmanship of [[Louis Blom-Cooper]], the Press Council transferred its funding to the [[Press Standards Board of Finance]] and began work on the development of a written Code of Practice.

The 1990 Calcutt report<ref>{{cite web|title=Calcutt Report|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1990/jun/21/calcutt-report|work=[[Hansard|Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)]]|publisher=HMSO|date=21 June 1990|access-date=23 July 2011}}</ref> recommended the setting up of a new [[Press Complaints Commission]] to replace the Press Council. The new Commission would be given 18 months to prove non-statutory self-regulation could work effectively and if it failed to do so, then a statutory system would be introduced.

== See also ==

* [[Council for Mass Media in Finland]]

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:1953 establishments in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:1991 disestablishments in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Journalism ethics]]
[[Category:Mass media complaints authorities]]
[[Category:Self-regulatory organisations in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Consumer organisations in the United Kingdom]]

Press Council (UK) - Revision history

imported>Rublamb: Changing short description from "British voluntary press organisation that was succeeded by the Press Complaints Commission in 1990" to "British press organisation (1953–1990)"