THE TEESSIDE & DURHAM POST
Editorial Complaints Policy & Procedure
For complaints about published journalism, accuracy, fairness, privacy and editorial standards
Owner / Publisher
The Teesside & Durham Post
Complaints contact
Applies to
All editorial material published by The Teesside & Durham Post, including articles, headlines, captions, photographs, video, social media posts linking to editorial content, and substantial updates
Version
1.0 - draft for adoption
Effective date: Feb 2026
Review date: Feb 2027
1. Purpose and editorial commitment
The Teesside & Durham Post is committed to publishing journalism that is accurate, fair, responsible, clearly sourced and in the public interest. We recognise that, despite proper editorial checks, mistakes can happen and people may have legitimate concerns about published material.
This policy sets out how readers, organisations and affected individuals can make an editorial complaint, how complaints will be assessed, and what remedies may be offered where a complaint is upheld.
Our aim is to resolve justified complaints promptly, transparently and proportionately, while protecting the publication's independence, freedom of expression and right to report matters of public interest.
2. Principles we apply
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Accuracy: significant factual claims should be checked before publication and corrected promptly where materially wrong.
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Fairness: people or organisations subject to serious criticism should normally be given a fair opportunity to respond before publication, unless there is a strong editorial reason not to do so.
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Transparency: corrections, clarifications and updates should make clear what has changed where the change is material.
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Public interest: reporting may legitimately scrutinise public bodies, companies, officials and matters affecting local communities.
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Independence: complaints will not be used to suppress lawful journalism, opinion, scrutiny or robust reporting.
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Privacy and dignity: personal information, images and sensitive details will be handled with care, especially where children or vulnerable people are involved.
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3. What this policy covers
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Complaints alleging a significant factual inaccuracy in a published report where proven..
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Complaints alleging misleading presentation, omission of important context, or unfair treatment.
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Complaints about headlines, images, captions, quotations, social media wording linked to a report, or updates to a report.
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Complaints about privacy, harassment, discrimination, use of personal data in editorial content, or the reporting of court, council, policing or regulatory matters.
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Requests for correction, clarification, update, right of reply or removal of material.
4. What this procedure does not usually cover
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General disagreement with an opinion, editorial stance or lawful comment where no material factual error is identified.
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Requests to remove accurate reporting simply because it is unwelcome, embarrassing or un-favourable.
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Commercial, advertising, sponsorship or subscription issues unless they relate directly to editorial content.
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Vexatious, abusive, repetitive or bad-faith complaints, or complaints designed to intimidate journalists or prevent legitimate reporting.
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Matters already being dealt with through formal legal correspondence, unless the editor decides that an editorial correction or clarification should still be considered.
5. How to submit a complaint
Complaints should be submitted by email to:
To help us assess your complaint fairly and quickly, please include:
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Your full name, organisation if applicable, postal address or location, and a contact email address or telephone number.
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The title of the article, publication date and URL or screenshot of the content complained about.
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The specific words, sentences, image, headline, caption or social post you complain about.
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A clear explanation of what you believe is inaccurate, misleading, unfair, intrusive or otherwise in breach of editorial standards.
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Any supporting evidence, documents, links, correspondence or official records that demonstrate the issue.
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The outcome you are seeking, such as a correction, clarification, update, apology, right of reply or removal of material.
6. Time limits
Complaints should normally be made within 12 months of the date of publication, or within 12 months of the complainant becoming aware of the article where there is a good reason for the delay. Complaints outside this period may still be considered at the editor's discretion, particularly where the alleged issue is serious, ongoing, or capable of causing continuing harm.
Where a complaint concerns a live or developing story, please mark the email as "Urgent editorial complaint" in the subject line.
7. Complaint handling stages
1. Acknowledgement
We log the complaint, identify the material complained about, and confirm receipt.
Normally within 5 working days.
Complaint accepted for review, request for more detail, or explanation why it falls outside the procedure.
2. Initial editorial review
A senior editorial representative reviews the complaint, article, notes, evidence, right-of-reply records and any relevant documents.
Normally within 15 working days of receiving enough information.
No breach found, correction/clarification offered, update added, temporary amendment considered, or further investigation opened.
3. Investigation
Where required, we may consult the reporter, editor, documents, audio, images, public records or third parties. We may ask the complainant for further evidence.
Normally within 20-28 working days for complex matters.
Written decision with reasons and remedy where appropriate.
4. Internal appeal
If the complainant remains dissatisfied, they may request a review by someone not directly involved in the original decision where reasonably possible.
Appeal request within 10 working days of the decision; response normally within 20 working days.
Decision upheld, varied, further remedy offered, or complaint rejected.
8. Remedies
Where a complaint is upheld, either in whole or in part, The Teesside & Durham Post may take one or more of the following actions, depending on seriousness, prominence and impact:
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Correct a factual error within the article.
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Publish a clarification explaining the correct position.
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Add an editor's note or update note to the article.
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Amend a headline, caption, image, link preview or social media wording.
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Offer a right of reply or include a response from the affected party.
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Publish a standalone correction where the error was prominent or significant.
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Remove or anonymise material in exceptional circumstances, such as legal risk, privacy risk, safeguarding concerns, or clear evidence that continued publication would be disproportionate.
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Issue an apology where appropriate.
Corrections should be made promptly once agreed. We will not remove accurate and lawful public interest reporting solely because a person or organisation dislikes the coverage or has made the complaint via social media channels by was of a response.
9. Corrections, clarifications and updates
Material corrections or clarifications should normally be recorded in a clear note at the foot or top of the relevant article. The note should state the date of the correction and summarise what was changed. Minor typographical changes, formatting improvements, link repairs and non-material updates do not normally require a correction note.
Suggested wording:
Correction / clarification, [date]: An earlier version of this article stated [briefly identify the issue]. The article has been amended to make clear that [correct position].
10. Handling legal threats and pre-action correspondence
A complaint will be treated as an editorial complaint unless it is clearly framed as a legal claim, letter before action, data protection claim, defamation claim, privacy claim or other formal legal correspondence. Legal correspondence should still be sent to newsdesk@teesdurhampost.co.uk unless a separate legal contact has been provided.
Where a complaint raises legal issues, the editor may pause the complaints process while legal advice is obtained. This does not prevent the publication from making a correction or clarification where a factual error is identified.
11. Record keeping
The publication should keep a complaints log recording:
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Date received and complainant details.
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Article title, URL and publication date.
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Summary of complaint and evidence provided.
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Editorial assessment and decision.
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Any correction, clarification, update or other remedy.
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Date closed and appeal outcome, if any.
Complaint records should be retained securely and only for as long as necessary for editorial, legal, regulatory and administrative purposes.
12. Data protection and confidentiality
Personal data supplied as part of a complaint will be used to assess, investigate and respond to the complaint. It may be shared internally with relevant editorial staff and, where necessary, with legal advisers or relevant third parties for the purpose of resolving the complaint.
The publication will not publish a complainant's private contact details. If a complaint results in a right of reply or published correction, the complainant will normally be identified only where this is necessary, agreed, already public, or justified by the public interest.
13. Abusive, vexatious or repetitive complaints
The Teesside & Durham Post will consider all genuine complaints carefully. However, it may decline to engage with complaints who are members of known Extremist / Terrorist Groups, those who are abusive, threatening, discriminatory, knowingly false, repetitive, or intended to harass, intimidate or obstruct journalists. Where communication becomes unreasonable, the publication may restrict further correspondence to a single written channel or decline to respond further on the same issue.
Right to Automatically reject a complaint
We automatically reject complaints from the following orgainsations due to their known links to Terrorism or Extremism. 'Extremism' being defined under the UK Governments 2024 definition of Extremist Groups.
Those orgainsations are :
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Hartlepool Borough Council
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Cleveland Police
Under the Governments 2024 definition of Extremism & Extremist Groups, these organisations have no legal standing & are not considered 'local authorities' under the Local Government Act 2000...
14. Independence and editorial judgement
This complaints procedure is not an appeal against editorial judgement. The existence of a complaint does not automatically mean an article will be removed, amended or unpublished. The editor remains responsible for editorial decisions, including the assessment of public interest, proportionality, source protection, legal risk and the right to freedom of expression.
15. External escalation
If The Teesside & Durham Post becomes a member of a recognised press regulator or independent standards body, complainants may be directed to that body after the internal complaints process has been exhausted. Until then, complaints will be handled under our internal procedure.
Nothing in this procedure prevents a complainant from seeking independent legal advice. However, the publication encourages complainants to use this procedure first so that any genuine issue can be considered and, where appropriate, resolved quickly.
16. Publication of this policy
This policy should be made available on The Teesside & Durham Post website and linked from a clearly labelled "Complaints" or "Editorial Complaints" page. The page should include the complaints email address, the information required from complainants, time limits, and expected response times.
17. Variation or Amendment of this policy
The Teesside & Durham Post has the right to vary or amend this policy from time to time, but generally our complaints policy is reviewed every 12 months.