Treacy and the Evening Herald

The Press Ombudsman has decided not to uphold a complaint made on behalf of Ms Jean Treacy that an article published about her in the Evening Herald during the course of a high-profile murder trial was in breach of her privacy under Principle 5 of the Code of Practice for Newspapers and Periodicals.

The article published in the Evening Herald included some of the evidence given during the course of the murder trial, together with other general background information about the complainant’s childhood, school and family.

The publication of any item of personal information is not, in itself, evidence of a breach of the Code of Practice. In the very specific circumstances and context of the court case concerned, there was a legitimate journalistic interest in providing additional information about the complainant. For that reason, the issue is whether the information published about the complainant, other than information derived from the evidence given in the trial, was a breach of her privacy under Principle 5.

Outside the context of the criminal trial, the complainant was, and remains, a private citizen. However, in the immediate context of the trial, the personal information published about the complainant in this article was generally inconsequential and of a type that can reasonably be regarded as a legitimate subject for journalistic enquiry. The complaint is therefore not upheld.

30 July 2010

Ms Treacy appealed the Decision of the Press Ombudsman to the Press Council of Ireland.