Decided by the Press Ombudsman

The Press Ombudsman has decided to uphold a complaint under Principles 1 (Truth and Accuracy) and 2 (Distinguishing Fact and Comment) of the Code of Practice for Newspapers and Magazines about an article in the Evening Herald of 5 January 2012, because the headline was misleading and reported a conjecture as fact.

The Press Ombudsman has decided that an offer made by the editor of the Westmeath Examiner was sufficient to resolve a complaint by a man about a report of a civil court case in which he was the plaintiff.

The Press Ombudsman has decided to uphold a complaint by the Irish Traveller Movement that an article in the Evening Herald on 14 September 2011 was in breach of Principles 2 (Distinguishing Fact and Comment) and 8 (Prejudice) of the Code of Practice for Newspapers and Magazines. The article, headlined “Traveller Gangs have become a mafia the law fears to tackle”, asked “When did Travellers go from being craftspeople to establishing themselves as a pan-national crime gang?”, and maintained that “many [Travellers have] turned to drugs and crime” and had become “what appears to be Ireland’s biggest crime gang.”

The Press Ombudsman has decided that although an article about the Temple Bar Cultural Trust in the Evening Herald on 26 September 2011 was inaccurate, this was not significant enough to amount to a breach of Principle 1 (Truth and Accuracy) of the Code of Practice for Newspapers and Magazines. He also decided that there was insufficient evidence that the article in question breached Principle 2 (Distinguishing Fact and Comment) of the Code.

The Press Ombudsman has decided not to uphold a complaint by the Parliamentary Legal Adviser to the Houses of the Oireachtas that the newspaper’s publication of a decision of the Press Ombudsman, as subsequently upheld on appeal by the Press Council, was in breach of Principle 10 (Publication of the Decision of the Press Ombudsman/Press Council) of the Code of Practice for Newspapers and Magazines.

The Press Ombudsman has decided that an offer made by the Irish Independent was sufficient to resolve a complaint from the ESB that a reference to it in an article on 2 September 2011 was in breach of Principles 1 (Truth and Accuracy) and 4 (Respect for Rights) of the Code of Practice for Newspapers and Magazines.

The Press Ombudsman has decided to uphold a complaint by a former public representative that a reference to him in an article in the Irish Independent was in breach of Principle 1 (Truth and Accuracy) of the Code of Practice for Newspapers and Magazines. The article stated that the complainant was among a number of public representatives who had privately made representations to ministers of the last government against proposals to lower the blood-alcohol limit.

The Press Ombudsman has decided not to uphold a complaint by Mr Rory McCann that an article in the Sunday Independent on 30 October entitled “Loud and proud gays want to take over rest of society” was in breach of Principle 8 (Prejudice) of the Code of Practice for Newspapers and Magazines.

The Press Ombudsman has decided to uphold a complaint by Ms Maeve Clarke that an article in the Irish Independent on 17 September 2011 about the findings of an OECD Report on teachers’ pay and conditions breached Principle 1 (Truth and Accuracy) of the Code of Practice for Newspapers and Magazines because it stated inaccurately that the number of hours worked by Irish secondary teachers was “significantly lower” than the OECD average.

The Press Ombudsman has decided that there was insufficient evidence for him to make a decision that a statement in an article published in the Irish Sun on 22 August 2011 breached Principle 1 (Truth and Accuracy) of the Code of Practice for Newspapers and Magazines. He decided that an offer made by the newspaper represented an offer of sufficient remedial action to resolve another part of the complaint under the same Principle. A further complaint under Principle 4 (Respect for Rights) was not upheld.