Mr C Garvey and the Irish Independent

The Press Ombudsman has decided that the Irish Independent took sufficient remedial action to resolve a complaint by Mr Cathal Garvey under Principle 1 (Truth and Accuracy) and Principle 2 (Distinguishing Fact and Comment) of the Code of Practice for Newspapers and Magazines about an article in the Irish independent on 30 November 2011 headlined “Why tug of love parents spell big trouble for schools”.

The Irish Independent offered Mr Garvey the opportunity to write an article of 500 words in response. Although Mr Garvey accepted this offer and an article from him was published, he subsequently complained that the article was not as long or as prominent as the original article, that the newspaper failed to include an agreed strap-line reading the name of his organisation “Equality for Fathers”, and that the article was published in the ‘Mothers and Babies’ section of the newspaper.

The length of Mr. Garvey’s article was as agreed between the parties. In the opinion of the Press Ombudsman the issues relating to the omission of the strap-line (which the newspaper said was for space considerations), and to the placing of the article, were not significant enough to invalidate his decision that the action taken by the newspaper was a sufficient response to the complaint. Editors are entitled to a reasonable latitude in relation to the editorial handling of right of reply-type articles other than in respect of significant details which have been specifically agreed between the parties in advance as part of the conciliation process.

The Press Ombudsman could find no evidence that the article breached Principle 8 of the Code.

12 June 2012

The Complainant appealed the Decision of the Press Ombudsman to the Press Council of Ireland.