Centennial Honors College
Western Illinois University
Undergraduate Research Day 2013
Podium Presentation
Ethical Regulations of Press in United Kingdom
Alice Baglin
Faculty Mentor: Yong Tang
English and Journalism
The press in the United Kingdom is stereotyped as being aggressive and invasive. Their
perseverance to get information for the public is so relentless it would seem to be illegal,
however; for the majority of the time they apparently avoid crossing legal boundaries.
Occasionally they will be sued by companies or celebrities, because of misrepresented
information. Press in the United Kingdom includes all forms of journalistic
communication to the public. They do not have the safety of the First Amendment from
the U.S. Constitution to protect their activity like of guidelines created by the Press
Complaints Commission that all editors and publishers are expected to abide by. The
PCC is regularly criticized for its lack of efforts to enforce these restrictions on the press.
There can be little doubt that the car accident that killed Princess Diana was caused by
the press of the U.K. and their reckless driving in her pursuit whilst trying to snap a
picture of her. The PCC Code of Practice It was been replaced with a new system in
July of 2011 after an insane phone hacking scandal, which included MPs and Prime
Minister, David Cameron. So what were the limits of the old system, why did the old
system fail, what does the new code of practice state, and is it sufficient to prevent what
would seem to be unethical invasions of people’s intriguing and important questions.