Based on suggestions from the Press Standards Board of Finance, the committee revised the Code’s preamble, which previously excluded user-generated content from online publications as editorial material, to better define editorial responsibilities.  The revised preamble instructs editors to apply the Code to both “online and printed versions of publications” and encourages them to ensure its observance among not only editorial staff but also “external contributors, including non-journalists.”

Changes to Clause 10, which addresses “clandestine devices and subterfuge” reflected the recent scandals involving intrusions of privacy, particularly wire-tapping by The News of the World in 2006.  The revised clause prohibits the press from obtaining material using any clandestine devices or methods, including interceptions of phone calls and “accessing digitally-private information without consent.”  Clause 10 adds that subterfuge may only be justifiable in the public interest, when the information cannot be obtained otherwise.

The committee hopes that the changes will underline the essential importance of the preamble and its public interest exceptions, “which set out to balance the rights of the individual and the public’s right to know.”

The changes will come into effect on August 1, 2007 and will be enforced by the Press Complaints Commission.  To help facilitate and make known the revisions, The Society of Editors will print and distribute wallet-sized copies of the Code for journalists, politicians, and leaders of civil society in Britain.

Source: Hold the Front Page