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Mr Gerry Adams and the Sunday Independent

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Tuesday, 9th December 2014
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On 19 October the Sunday Independent published a decision of the Press Ombudsman, affirmed by the Press Council on appeal, upholding a complaint by Mr Gerry Adams TD that statements in an article published on 18 May under the headline “Adams tries to gag Independent” were 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 upheld the complaint because he said that a letter sent by Mr Adams’ solicitors to the newspaper could not reasonably be interpreted as trying to “gag” the newspaper or silence its reporting. 

Mr Adams complained that the publication of the decision of the Press Ombudsman  and the Press Council breached Principle 10.1 (Publication of the Decision of the Press Ombudsman/Press Council) of the Code of Practice   which states that decisions shall be published with due prominence.  The article of 18 May was published on the front page, the decision of the Press Ombudsman and Press Council was published on page 17 of the newspaper.

During conciliation undertaken by the Press Ombudsman’s Office between Mr Adams’ solicitors and the Sunday Independent  the newspaper accepted that due to an oversight on its part, it was in breach of publication guidelines which are provided to newspapers when complaints are upheld.  The fourth of these guidelines states:   Where a complaint has been upheld in relation to an article published on the front page of a publication, the decision should be published with due prominence on one of the first four editorial pages. The Sunday Independent offered to publish a statement acknowledging its unintended error.  However the wording of the statement was not acceptable to Mr Adams.

The Press Ombudsman has determined that this offer did not constitute sufficient means of redress and has therefore decided that the complaint is upheld on the grounds of a breach of Principle 10. This decision must be published on one of the first four pages of the Sunday Independent.

The full decision of the Press Ombudsman and Press Council on the original complaint can be accessed by clicking here. 

9 December 2014