About PA Fact Check

PA Fact Check Team

PA Media has a fact-checking team, involving reporters and editors from across the news agency, and all our editorial staff are experienced fact-checkers through their daily work as agency journalists.

The PA fact checks are published on PA Media Group’s corporate site here: https://abin-pam.union-dev2.net/pa-fact-check/.

All PA’s experienced journalists may write fact checks from time to time, aided by the PA Fact Check team.

Pete Clifton is Editor-in-Chief of PA Media and is responsible for PA’s editorial content across all formats. Pete joined PA Media from MSN in 2015, after three years leading its 70-strong editorial team. Before that, he spent 15 years at the BBC in a number of senior editorial roles including, Head of Editorial Development, Head of News Interactive, Editor of the BBC News website and launch Editor of the BBC Sport website.

Wesley Johnson is Head of Production at PA Media and leads the agency’s Fact Check team. He has held a number of senior roles at PA, including News Editor, Head of Planning, and Managing Editor of the Microsoft News site, and was previously the agency’s Home Affairs Correspondent and North America Correspondent, after joining as a trainee and regional reporter in 2002.

Amy Crowther is deputy head of production at PA Media and leads the agency’s news wire and digital sub-editing team. For 24 years she has been one of the guardians ensuring PA’s unrivalled reputation for being fast, fair and accurate. A qualified coach and mentor, she is also deeply involved in training and developing PA’s reporters and subs. Amy joined the agency in 1999 after beginning her career as a reporter in New Zealand.

August Graham is a business reporter based in London. Over a nine-year career he has reported for PA Media and City AM as well as for a trade publication and in local news. He holds a master’s degree in investigative journalism from City, University of London.

Stephen Wood is a production journalist who has worked as a sub-editor on national and international print and digital publications from PA Media’s Yorkshire office since 2018. He holds a degree in journalism from the University of Stirling and previously worked on regional newspapers for Newsquest.


Will Grimond is a data journalist at RADAR, a unit co-founded by PA Media which syndicates data stories on a local level. He writes on a range of issues including health, welfare, the environment and social affairs. Will previously worked as a media officer and data researcher at the RSA, a think tank.

Ella Pickover is health correspondent for the PA news agency. She works from Suffolk and London and covers anything from medical breakthroughs to NHS policy. She previously worked as a general reporter for PA and as a reporter for the St Albans Review.

Rebecca McCurdy is a political reporter in Scotland for the PA news agency. She works from Glasgow and at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, covering the main issues in Scottish politics, including health and will normally be out interviewing politicians across the country. She previously specialised in education journalism.

Abi Jackson is an editor and writer on PA Media’s Features and Lifestyle desk, where she can often be found interviewing celebrities about their self-care and life challenges. She is based in London and during her 19-year journalism career has specialised in health and wellbeing, previously contributing to titles including Psychologies, Top Sante, Guardian and Daily Telegraph.

Fact checking at PA

The PA Fact Check team is underpinned by PA’s core values of being fast, fair and accurate while tackling misinformation in all its forms.

We fact check claims about issues in the public interest, focussing on what was said, not who said it, and present the findings in a way which is easy to follow and verify by readers, using primary sources whenever possible.

We prioritise claims that have the potential to affect the lives of people in the communities we serve, regardless of who’s made the claim or in what format.  

We are particularly keen to look into claims which are spreading quickly and gaining traction so we can present the facts around them. 

We also aim to debunk any misleading or false information online, particularly when it has the potential to affect people’s lives.

When selecting a claim to check, the PA Fact Check team considers:

• Editorial value: is the claim around an issue in the public interest? Does it have the potential to cause harm?
• Reach: Is the claim gaining traction online? Are people talking about it? 
  
  

We only check factual claims, not personal opinions.

We never assume any prior knowledge.

When writing a PA Fact Check, we will:

• Clearly identify the claim(s) we are checking
• Present our findings, with all facts attributed to their sources, and both live and archived links provided to enable the reader to easily verify the facts themselves
• All potential evidence will be assessed using the same standards, regardless of who made the claim, or what side of the political spectrum it falls on
• We may contact the claimant for further information on their source or to further understand their claim
• We may contact experts for further information, understanding or context too
• We will use independent experts or organisations in our findings whenever possible, and explain their credibility. 
• If that is not possible, where we are aware of any possible political biases we will say so.
• Any potential conflicts of interest will also be disclosed in the findings of the fact check.
• Anonymous sources are only used when the source’s safety is at risk and the information they have provided is both necessary for the fact check and corroborated by another identified source.
• The summary of our evaluation is designed to provide a concise at-a-glance view of our assessment of the claim, but we are not restricted to a defined set of ratings and can tailor the evaluation summary to our particular findings for each claim. Some of the more commonly used summaries include:
  • False: There is no evidence to substantiate the claim
  • True: The claim is supported by evidence
  • Partly true/false: There is evidence which at least in part supports the claim
  • Missing context: Important context critical to understanding of the claim is missing
• And as with PA’s wire copy, every PA Fact Check has at least two sets of eyes on it before being published.

Every fact check is seen by at least two journalists before being published and our journalists work under the supervision of senior editors. Any potentially contentious editorial decisions, complaints or necessary corrections involve the direct intervention of the editorial lead, who exercises editorial control over PA’s fact checks and reports to the Editor-in-Chief.

PA is proud of its reputation for speed, impartiality and accuracy.

All PA Fact Checks are published on a section of our corporate website which is available to all for free.

If you have a claim for us to check, please email us at factcheck@pamediagroup.com, including any relevant links.

Corrections and complaints policy

Any complaints over a fact check can be sent to us at factcheck@pamediagroup.com.

The PA Fact Check team applies the principles of PA Media’s correction policy.

If a fact check contains a substantive, factual error, we will publish a correction, along with a note at the top of copy making clear what is being corrected. The correction will then be made in the body of the copy and, if necessary, reflected in the headline and verdict of the check. 

Minor errors, such as spelling mistakes which have no bearing on the understanding of the article, will also be corrected and republished, along with a note at the top of copy making clear what is being corrected. The correction will be made in the body of the copy and, if necessary, reflected in the headline and verdict of the check. 

While all emails, suggestions and complaints are read, they will not all necessarily justify an individual response. We need to balance the time we spend on correspondence with the time we spend checking claims.

No corrections to fact checks were published as of April 2024.

Neutrality

PA prides itself on its objectivity.

Staff members must not express opinions which may damage PA’s reputation for objectivity or call into question the impartiality of our reporting.

All employees are expected to refrain from sharing political opinions on social media platforms that are visible to the public, or could potentially become visible to the public.

Our staff members’ approach to social media must reflect our core editorial principles.

PA is not under the editorial control of the state, a political party or a politician and will not focus investigations on one particular political party or side of the political spectrum.

This operation will not employ any person who holds a salaried or prominent position in a political party, government, or public company under the direct control of a political party or government and will not ask or advise the readers to vote for any political parties, candidates for public office, or policies.

PA’s editorial principles

The following notes outline how our guiding principles apply. It is essential that these rules are honoured not only to the letter but in the full spirit. That is what PA’s sense of fair play is about.

• Every reasonable endeavour will be made to ensure all material transmitted in the name of PA is factual, fair and is sent to customers without unnecessary delay.
• All stories carry attribution and wherever possible the source is identified and on the record.
• All PA journalists will follow rigorously the IPSO Editors’ Code of Practice in its true spirit.
• Any serious error of fact will be corrected at the earliest opportunity, with a note explaining what has changed. See PA Media’s Corrections and Complaints policy.
• To be trusted the PA must be editorially independent. It is the duty of the PA Editor-in-Chief to resist attempts by any individual or organisation to unduly influence the content produced by the PA.
• Organisations cannot buy their way onto PA output – a business relationship with PA’s commercial division will not influence the editorial judgment of journalists providing the editorial services. The usual news values will apply. Likewise, individual journalists will not file copy or pictures as the result of receiving an inducement and in disregard of editorial judgment.
• All PA customers will be treated equally, regardless of size, influence or power and with courtesy and consideration. We go the extra mile to help all our customers.
• Our responsibility to our customers means that we must combine vigour in pursuing stories with caution. We must balance the demand to publish a story with the requirement to behave responsibly.
• When the PA provides pooled coverage on behalf of all the media, we will supply the material to all the organisations who usually participate in pooled coverage and at our discretion to other media organisations.
• The PA’s central role in the media allows us privileged access to information but we will never exploit this position and will ensure that such material is provided to all our customers. Embargoed information must never leak from PA: it would be a betrayal of the trust placed in us.
• In general the PA will not make payments to individuals for stories, features or pictures. Any exception must be agreed at department head level and such transactions must adhere strictly to the IPSO Editors’ Code of Practice.

About PA Media

PA Media was founded more than 150 years ago and is the national news agency for the UK and Ireland. It is a completely independent news agency, with a reputation based on speed, accuracy and impartiality.

PA Media supplies words, images, video, graphics, live data and more to a broad range of media and non-media organisations around the world.

Our journalists are rigorously tested before appointment, including close examination of their writing skills, knowledge of the law and shorthand, to ensure our content is to the highest standard possible.

To maintain and develop quality journalism, we have a rolling programme of editorial training for all staff which is updated on a regular basis.

All our content is checked by at least one other journalist before publication and receives all the due diligence you would expect from the UK and Ireland’s national news agency.

Customers trust PA Media, and will often publish our content without any further editing.

Our core editorial values can be summed up in three words: fast, fair and accurate. All are equally important: the PA does not sacrifice accuracy or balance for the sake of speed. As we sometimes say: “We must be first – but first we must be right.”

These are the guiding principles for everything the PA writes, photographs or films and they underpin our reputation for journalistic integrity. They explain why PA is trusted both by those we report on and the customers who use the service. They believe we offer them a fair deal.

The responsibility on the PA and its journalists is immense. PA helps set the news agenda. It influences both the decision-making and what eventually appears each day in newspapers and broadcast media across the UK and Ireland, and around the world. When a story breaks, the cry across the newsroom that “it’s on PA” is the catalyst for action.

The PA’s official history says: “Throughout the media industry, the PA has a reputation for speed, accuracy, fairness and flexibility. It does not have any political views. It writes no opinionated editorials – or editorials of any kind whatsoever. It does not campaign or crusade. It simply gathers the news and the pictures and distributes them as fast as modern communications systems will allow.”

International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN)

The International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), based at the Poynter Institute in the United States, has been a champion for the best practices and exchanges of fact-based information since it was established in 2015. 

PA Media is a verified signatory of its Code of Principles, a series of commitments which organisations abide by to promote excellence in fact-checking. You can see PA’s applications here and find out more about the code here. Details of the IFCN’s own complaints process can be found here.

Financial information

PA Media, the UK and Ireland’s national news agency, is part of PA Media Group, a diverse portfolio of specialist media companies spanning news and information, data, technology, marketing and communications. 

PA Media Group had a turnover of £105,699,000 in the year ended 31 December 2022, with a total comprehensive income for the year of £6,949,000.

The group’s latest full annual accounts are available here.

No sources of income per client make up more than 5% of annual income for the group.

For online platforms, the group provides Microsoft with access to the newswire and a news video feed. We publish a small selection of articles on the Google News Showcase site each day and the group provides strategy and content services (non-editorial related services) to Facebook.

The following public bodies have access to the newswire and embargoed news through our Mediapoint service:

• Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
• Department for Education
• Department for Environment Food & Rural
• Department for International Trade
• Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities
• Department for Transport
• Department for Work & Pensions
• Department Of Health
• Department of Media Culture and Sport
• The Children’s Commissioner for England
• The Money and Pensions Service
• Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO)
  
  

PA Media Group also provides:

• a one-off photography service to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO)
• media training for the Bank of England (training session only)
• photography services for royal investitures
• hosting and streaming delivery services to the British Council (non-editorial related service).
  
  

Our editorial independence is maintained by only giving online platforms and public sources access to the standard content produced and available to all those with a licence. They have no control over the content provided nor any input into our editorial decisions. 

There are no long-term significant unpaid commitments.

There are no goods and services gifted totalling more than 5% of annual income.

Further details about PA Media Group can be found here: 


https://pamediagroup.com/about-us/


Further financial information and copies of our most recent annual reports can be found here:

https://pamediagroup.com/about-us/


PA does not receive any subsidies or other financial support from the state, politicians or political parties.

Ownership 

The Press Association Limited (Registration No. 05946902), trading as PA Media, is a private company registered in England and Wales. It operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of PA Media Group Limited (Registration No. 00004197), which is also a private company in England and Wales.

Founded in 1868 by a consortium of regional newspapers on a cooperative basis, PA Media Group was established to deliver reliable and impartial news updates from London. Our news agency began two years later, transmitting our first press telegraph on 5^th February 1870, marking the beginning of a long-standing tradition in news excellence.

Today, PA Media Group continues to uphold its founding principles. Our news agency’s core editorial values – fast, fair, and accurate – guide our daily operations and decision-making processes, ensuring that we deliver news with integrity and speed, while maintaining fairness in reporting. Our ownership remains primarily shared between leading brands in the UK and Irish media industry.

As at 9 May 2024, our shareholders are:

• Agistri Limited
• Scottish Daily Record and Sunday Mail Limited
• Daily Mail and General Holdings Limited
• Reach plc
• MGL2 Limited
• Informa Investments Limited
• The Irish News Limited
• The Irish Times Designated Activity Company
• Harbour Investments
• D.C. Thomson & Company Limited
• Telegraph Media Group Limited
• Guardian Media Group plc
• News Corp UK & Ireland Limited
• Sappho Limited
• KM (Holdings) Limited
• Iliffe Print Cambridge Limited
• Newsquest Media Group Limited
• Claverley Group Limited
  
  

PA Media Group has no single beneficial owner. Our diverse ownership structure not only ensures our commitment to journalistic integrity but also supports our mission to provide impartial news in a responsible manner, benefiting all stakeholders and maintaining public trust in our reporting.

Governance 

Our Board

Our Executive directors are responsible for the day-to-day running of our operations. Our Executive team is led by Emily Shelley (Chief Executive Officer) alongside Andrew Dowsett (Chief Operating Officer), James Goode (Chief Financial Officer) and Louise Irwin (Group General Counsel & Company Secretary). 

Our Board, chaired by Murdoch MacLennan, benefits from a wealth of commercial and industry expertise brought by our seven non-executive directors:

• Geraldine Allinson (Iliffe Media Group)
• Dominic Fitzpatrick (The Irish News Group)
• Rebekah Brooks (News UK)
• Paul Dacre (Associated Newspapers)
• Jim Mullen (Reach plc)
• Stephen A. Carter (Informa plc)
  
  

Our Audit and Risk Committee

All members of our Audit and Risk Committee (the “Committee”) are non-executive directors. The Board is satisfied that the members of the Committee have a wide range of commercial and financial experience which allows the Committee to fulfil its Terms of Reference. 

Only members of the Committee have the right to attend Committee meetings. However, other individuals such as the Chief Financial Officer, the Group General Counsel & Company Secretary, and representatives from the Company’s auditors, Grant Thornton, may be invited to attend all or part of any meeting as and when appropriate.  

The primary duties of the Committee include (but are not limited to):

• Ensure that the Board receive timely, relevant and reliable information, tailored to assist them with monitoring the business and taking important decisions. 
• Review and assess the Annual Report and financial statements in order to determine whether it can advise the Board that, taken as a whole, the Annual Report is fair, balanced and understandable.
• Recommend to the Board the appointment/removal of the external auditors and approve their remuneration and terms of engagement.
• Monitor and review the external auditor’s independence, objectivity and effectiveness including considering relevant UK professional and regulatory requirements.
• Review the external auditors’ evaluation of the Group’s internal controls, the management letter and management’s response. 
• Review the Group’s arrangements for its employees to raise concerns, in confidence, about possible wrongdoing in financial reporting or other matters.
• Review the Group’s systems and controls for ethical behaviour generally, in addition to its procedures for detecting fraud. 
• Review the efforts of the Group to comply with legal, social and environmental obligations. 
  
  

The Committee meets at least twice a year at appropriate times in the reporting and audit cycle, and at such other times as the Committee Chair shall require. Outside of the normal meeting schedule, the Committee Chair maintains a dialogue with the key individuals involved in the Group’s governance, including the Chief Financial Officer and the external lead audit partner. 

The PA Trust

The PA Trust (the “Trust”) was established in 2007 to review our news agency’s adherence to its principles of editorial independence. Comprising three respected figures in the media industry who have no relationship with any of our shareholders, the Trustees receive detailed reports from the Editor-in-Chief on a regular basis covering editorial matters such as content generation and distribution, staffing, training, technical development, and legal and regulatory issues. 

The current Trustees are Peter Cole (Chair), Philip Harding and Alison Hastings.

Additional governance measures

Along with the majority of publishers in the UK, the news agency is regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (“IPSO”), an independent regulator of most of the UK’s newspapers and magazines. We meet IPSO at least once a year, take careful note of all IPSO rulings and highlight many of them on our Media Lawyer service which is utilised widely in the industry. No complaints have been upheld against the news agency since IPSO was established in 2014, showing our dedication to accuracy and quality content. 

All editorial staff are expected to be familiar with the Editors’ Code and to observe it. Regular training, including from the regulator itself, is provided. 


Further information


Copies of our Memorandum and Articles of Association, alongside copies of past Annual Reports and Confirmation Statements are publicly available and can be found on Companies House here.

Contact

If you have any suggestions of claims to fact check, any complaints over our fact checks, or if you wish to give general feedback, you can email us at: FactCheck@pamediagroup.com.

PA is only able to check facts, rather than expressions of opinion, and we focus on claims which are significant and relevant to the general public. If you have any suggestions for fact checks, please send the claim and any relevant link(s) to the email address above. We may not be able to reply to every email with suggestions, but we value your suggestions.

If you have read one of our fact checks and believe it is inaccurate or contains any errors, please get in touch as soon as possible, writing in the subject line “complaint”. You should summarise why you think our fact check is inaccurate, and include links to any supporting evidence where possible please.