Ryanair and The Irish Times

The Press Ombudsman referred to the Press Council for decision, a complaint made by Ryanair relating to an article published in the Irish Times on Saturday 1st May 2010. The referral was made in light of the complexity of the case.

Ryanair alleged that the article was in breach of Principles 1.1 (Truth and Accuracy), 2 (Distinguishing fact and comment), and 3 (Fairness and Honesty) of the Code of Practice for Newspapers and Magazines.

Decision

The Council accepted that the headline of the original article breached principle 1.1 and principle 2, as it repeated an allegation against Ryanair without making it clear that it was merely an allegation. The Council noted, however, that The Irish Times had subsequently corrected the headline in the printed paper and had changed the headline of the article online and the Council concluded that these corrections sufficiently remedied the matter.

As regards principle 3, the Council noted that Ryanair was offered the opportunity to respond to the content of the article prior to publication and that its response was included in full in the article. The subsequent right of reply offered by the Irish Times, to publish an article or a letter of response from Ryanair, was in view of the Council, sufficient to meet any concerns Ryanair might have had in respect of the article which was the subject of the complaint.

The complaint was therefore not upheld.

10 September 2010