Mr Sean Fitzgerald and the Sunday World

The Press Ombudsman has decided that there is insufficient evidence to allow him make a decision on a complaint by Mr Sean Fitzgerald that an article about him in the Sunday World on 23 March 2014 was in breach of Principle 1 (Truth and Accuracy) of the Code of Practice for Newspapers and Magazines.

Mr Fitzgerald complained that a number of statements about him in the article, some of which were attributed to the newspaper’s sources, were inaccurate.  

The newspaper stood over its report, and said that the statements about which Mr Fitzgerald complained were received from highly reputable and confidential sources.   

The Press Ombudsman noted that the statements in the article about which Mr Fitzgerald complained were, for the most part, directly or indirectly attributed to the newspaper’s confidential sources.  As the Press Ombudsman was not in a position to establish, or to investigate to a verifiable conclusion, the factual accuracy of the statements complained about, or of the complainant’s denials of these statements, he was unable to make a decision on this complaint under Principle 1 of the Code.

 18 August 2014