Mr Adam Long and the Sunday World

The Press Ombudsman has decided not to uphold a complaint made by Mr Adam Long that an article published online by the Sunday World  on 4 July was in breach of Principles 1 (Truth and Accuracy)  and 8 (Prejudice) of the Code of Practice for Newspapers and Magazines.

The article in question, headlined “Gardai to crack down on beach sex cruisers as heatwave arrives,”  claimed to expose cruising gay men having sex on a family beach.    Mr Long complained under Principle 8 that there was a heavy emphasis in the article on the sexuality of the men that was grossly offensive and unacceptable.  He complained that the article sought to establish a link in readers’ minds between being gay and what was referred to as ‘pervert’ behaviour, and that it sought to convey a damaging impression that gay people are a danger to children, which had the potential to whip up serious prejudice against gay people more generally.

The newspaper responded that it published what was happening in the environs of a public beach during the day, and that it would have published the story regardless of the sexuality of any person involved as it dealt with what it described as lewd and perverse behaviour and exhibitionism on a grand scale by members of the public in contravention of various laws and flagrantly disregarding the feelings of other visitors to this resort area.

In the opinion of the Press Ombudsman,  the legitimate focus of the article concerned, and of its strongly implied criticism,  was the circumstances in which the behaviour of the people involved took place, rather than its nature or the sexual orientation of those involved.   Insofar as those activities took place on a public beach and during the day, the newspaper’s  categorisation of them as perverse was not a breach of Principle 8 of the Code of Practice. The same considerations apply to its descriptions of those involved, irrespective of their sexual orientation.

Mr Long also complained under Principle 1 that the article falsely portrayed the men involved as gay when, he argued, the likelihood was that they were heterosexual or bisexual.   This assertion of itself, and in the context of the article and the illustrations accompanying it, is insufficient to support a decision to uphold this aspect of his complaint.

Mr Long also complained that a statement in the article that a number of complaints were made to Gardaí about inappropriate behaviour on the beach was inaccurate. This complaint was based on evidence that another newspaper had quoted a Garda source as stating that they had not received a single complaint on the subject.  However, that article was published in a different newspaper some days before the Sunday World article, and the Sunday World article included statements by several named individuals that they had made complaints to the Gardai.  On this basis, this part of the complaint under Principle 1 is also not upheld.  

28 November 2013