Gantley and the Evening Herald

Complaint

Mr. Gantley complained that an article published in the Evening Herald on 23 September 2009 repeating, commenting on, and adding to statements about his past criminal record made by an identified caller to a phone-in radio programme, was in breach of Principle 1 (Truth and Accuracy) of the Code of Practice for Newspapers and Periodicals. He pointed out that although he had served time in prison, he had completed his sentences in 1991, and asserted that many of the statements were untrue.
The newspaper maintained that the comments about the complainant reported in the article did not breach the Code of Practice and were based on the writer’s own relevant knowledge of him.

Decision

The article concerned was prompted by a radio interview with Mr. Gantley about a play he had recently written. Publication in these circumstances of comments about the complainant’s criminal past is, eighteen years after his release from prison, of dubious relevance to a discussion of his activities or capabilities as a playwright. However, as the Press Ombudsman’s investigative role is confined to assessing evidence voluntarily made available by both parties, and there is insufficient evidence available to him in this case to enable him to make a decision on the accuracy or otherwise of the statements made by the writer of the article, no finding can be made on the accuracy of the statements in question.

The question of the accuracy of any statements reported in the article but made by an identified caller to a radio programme is more properly a matter for consideration by the Broadcasting Complaints Commission.

19 October 2009

Mr Gantley appealed the decision of the Press Ombudsman to the Press Council.