Press Complaints Commission issues video ruling

The Press Complaints Commission (PCC) has made its first ruling on the use of video footage by a newspaper.

The ruling comes after the John Ogilvie High School's Parent Teacher Association lodged a complaint over video of an unruly maths class that was posted on the website of the Hamilton Advertiser.

The PCC ruled that the identity of the participants had not been adequately protected.

"The subject matter of the story - that classroom discipline was allegedly so lax that it was affecting pupil performance - was clearly one of considerable public interest, and to a large degree the video provided the evidence to support the girl's position about her teaching conditions," said the PCC adjudication.

"It was therefore entirely legitimate for the paper to bring conditions in the classroom to public attention and to use, at least in part, the information contained in the video.

"At the same time, the newspaper had a responsibility to ensure that the material it published did not infringe the rights of the pupils appearing in the footage, some of whom were clearly identifiable."

The video has now been removed from the paper's website.

"The editorial responsibility lies with the publisher, and they need to be stringent about having high levels of editorial control over user-generated video," said Tony Martin, senior vice president of Roo Europe.

"The user-generated content revolution has taken off with such voracity that a significant number of publishers are unprepared for dealing with privacy cases of this sort."