A Bylaw to be known as the constitution of the Ontario Press Council and relating generally to the organization of the Ontario Press Council and to the transaction of its business.

PREAMBLE

The Ontario Press Council, like others in Canada and abroad, exists because newspapers recognize that a democratic society has a legitimate and fundamental interest in the quality of the information it receives. Through it, readers can call Ontario newspapers to account for unfair conduct such as invading privacy without justification, condemning people by innuendo or hearsay, ignoring commonly-accepted ethical standards, reporting conjecture as fact, distorting accounts of events, or failing to acknowledge error. The Ontario Press Council also speaks out for the public on other issues, such as freedom of public expression and access to government information. Although the Ontario Press Council acts independently of its founders, it vigorously defends the independence of the press and full freedom of public expression. Its decisions represent a consensus of a broad cross-section of Ontario society and of active journalists.

OBJECTS

The particular objects of the Ontario Press Council are:
(a) To defend the freedom of the press on behalf of public and press alike.
(b) To serve as a medium of understanding between the public and the press.
(c) To encourage the highest ethical and professional standards of journalism.
(d) To consider specific, unsatisfied complaints from the public about the conduct of the press in gathering and publishing news, opinion and advertising; to consider complaints from members of the press about the conduct of individuals and organizations toward the press; and to report publicly on action taken.
(e) To review and report on attempts to restrict access to information of public interest.
(f) To make representations to governments and other bodies on issues related to the purposes of the Ontario Press Council.
(g) To publish periodic reports recording the work of the Ontario Press Council.

PROCEDURAL RULES

Complaints

Pursuant to Article IX, Section A, Clause 8 of the Constitution of the Ontario Press Council, The Council hereby adopts the following procedural rules for the handling of complaints.
1. All complaints brought before the Council shall be in writing.
2. The Council and its committees may hear and question witnesses, but no one may be represented or accompanied by counsel.
3. The Council is an ethical body, not a court, and does not normally deal with a complaint that in any way involves litigation, whether launched, threatened or in prospect.
4. The Council's discretion on whether to hear any complaint is absolute. But it also takes account of the following practices, under which the Council:
(a) May decide not to hear a complaint received more than six months after the occurrence of the matter complained of;
(b) Shall not hear a complaint against a Contributing Newspaper unless the Contributing Newspaper has been given an opportunity to redress the complaint to the complainant's satisfaction;
(c) May deal with a complaint against a newspaper that is not a Contributing Newspaper only if that newspaper so chooses;
(d) Does not normally deal with a complaint involving an internal grievance covered by a collective bargaining agreement or the Ontario Labor Relations Act;
(e) Does not, as a general rule, consider complaints identical to those on which it has already issued a finding;
(f) Under some circumstances, may ask a complainant to sign a waiver agreeing not to take legal action on any complaint heard by the Council on which the Council makes a finding.
5. The Council considers every complaint to be against the newspaper involved, not against its staff, and normally does not name any employees in its findings.
6. Council members employed by newspapers must absent themselves from the deliberations when either the Council or the Inquiry Committee is discussing complaints against their newspapers.

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