Newcastle Evening Chronicle 'breached PCC code'.

(From Guardian Unlimited)

The Press Complaints Commission has criticised the Newcastle Evening Chronicle for failing to respect the confidentiality of a source.

In its ruling, the PCC said the Chronicle committed an "obvious and unnecessary breach of the [PCC] code", having failed to adhere to a basic principle of journalism.

The commission's ruling comes after a rare complaint under Clause 14 (confidential sources) of the code - which refers to journalists' "moral obligation" to protect confidential sources of information.

A complaint came from a former employee of the Rural Payments Agency, a government body which had been criticised …