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As the only formal means of redressing most inaccurate reporting in newspapers, the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) needs to be firmly on the side of readers in effectively upholding the Editors' Code of Practice and bringing about the best possible resolution to each and every case brought before it.
Andrew Dilnot, Chair of the UK Statistics Authority, has today expressed 'concern' about claims made by the Department for Education (DfE) on the UK's supposed slump in international school achievement league tables.
This week we have been following with interest the mystery of the North Sea cod population.
House of Commons Committee Room 8 was abuzz with revelations after the Chief Executive of the UK Border Agency (UKBA), Rob Whiteman, gave evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee on the latest updates on the UKBA's work. From this meeting alone followed a slurry of news reports this morning:
"One in four young drivers are involved in a crash in their first six months on the road". That was the startling headline that greeted readers of the Daily Mirror on 20 July this year.
Today we learnt on the Daily Mirror that in 2010 155 patients died "from thirst".
Death by dehydration has been in the media eye since 22 year-old Kane Gorny’s death by dehydration due to neglect and poor care caused a stir and a public enquiry in 2009.
Back then, 130 people were reported to have died by dehydration. The latest figures show that the number rose to 155 in 2010.
The debate over 'Benefits Tourism' took a new twist today after the BBC reported the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) had changed its estimate on the cost of benefits tourism by a factor of 16.
'Benefits Tourism' refers to cases where people entering the UK from abroad start claiming domestic social security benefits. Since 2004 the access to some of these beneifts has been restricted by a 'Habitual Residence Test' which establishes a 'right to reside' in the UK as a requirement for receiveing support.
Today we were told by the Daily Express that there is a surge in crime thanks to the foreign nationals living here.
This is just months after it was reported that nation-wide, crime rates have actually declined.
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) this morning caused a stir, by criticising one of the Government's flagship growth policies: the Regional Growth Fund.
The Fund is an initiative aimed at boosting jobs beyond London and the South East by investing public funds into job-creating projects alongside private sector partners. £1.4 billion has been allocated to be spent across 236 projects in the first two waves of the scheme, with a third wave set to allocate a further £1 billion.
Any claim without an obvious source should always trigger alarm bells in the discerning reader. A perfect example is a picture which recently went viral on social networking sites following Conservative MP Maria Miller's appointment as Culture Secretary and Minister for Women and Equalities:
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On Twitter
- How much is #EUmembership worth to each household in the UK? t.co/4Amr9K2SPL follow
- Domestic violence: how many women die as a result of their partner's violent behaviour? t.co/ypDng36uCi follow
- 7m foreigners and 5m Brits in London by 2031? Making projections is a delicate business: t.co/hxuCXuUDMq follow
- How much is tax avoidance and evasion costing the UK? t.co/ldXO3qTJlw #bbcqt follow
- Do polls show that the public support gay marriage? t.co/vuwm92vuPJ #bbcqt follow
- Work and pensions select committee to question DWP ministers about its media handling of benefit statistics t.co/RTVLz5q06y follow
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