The ICO exists to empower you through information.

We are seeking feedback on the draft journalism code of practice about processing personal data for the purposes of journalism. This is a statutory code under section 124 of the Data Protection Act 2018.

The draft code provides practical guidance to help individuals understand data protection law and comply effectively with its requirements. The code does not concern press conduct or standards in general.

The code will be most helpful to media organisations and staff with data protection responsibilities, including lawyers, data protection officers and senior editorial staff. We will develop complementary resources to support more day-to-day journalism and smaller organisations.

The draft code builds on the ‘Data protection and journalism: a guide for the media’ published in 2014 following industry engagement. It takes into account the responses from our initial call for views in 2019.

We are also seeking views on a draft economic impact assessment. Your responses will help us understand the code’s practical impact on organisations and individuals.

We encourage interested parties to get in touch, including individuals involved in the media industry such as journalists, media organisations, photographers and private investigators. We are keen to hear a wide range of views, including those of regulators, civil society, campaign groups, lawyers, academics, and members of the public.

Please submit responses by 10 January 2022. Responses submitted after the deadline may not be considered.

Responding to the consultations

The easiest way to respond to the consultations is through the online survey.

Alternatively, you can email the completed Word surveys to [email protected], or print off the documents and post them to:

Journalism Code of Practice
Regulatory Assurance
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

If you have any general queries about the consultation, please email us at [email protected]

Online workshops

We will be running online workshops with the industry and others with expertise in the media and data protection in November 2021. We will discuss key themes in the code and the development of practical tools and resources. To register your interest to attend the workshops please complete this online survey.

Privacy statement

For this consultation, we will publish all responses except for those where the respondent indicates that they are an individual acting in a private capacity (eg a member of the public). All responses from organisations and individuals responding in a professional capacity will be published. We will remove email addresses and telephone numbers from these responses but apart from this, we will publish them in full.

For more information about what we do with personal data please see our privacy notice.