Mr James Creane and the Bray People

Decision of the Press Council

The Press Council at its meeting of 17 April 2015, considered the appeal from Mr Creane regarding the description of the papers mentioned in the article and the particular photograph of his son used in the article.  The Council upheld the decision of the Press Ombudsman in relation to the photograph.

The Council understands the predicament the Press Ombudsman faced in the description of the papers in the article, where it was not possible to reach a decision on whether a collection of letters amounted to a journal or not.  The BAI appears to have faced a predicament similar to that faced by the Ombudsman. In their decision they dealt with the issue of the ‘journal’ as follows – “The inclusion in the programme of references to a series of letters as a ‘journal’ was considered particularly problematic, insofar as the complainant would not appear to have been informed of these letters in advance of the broadcast and referring to them as a ‘journal’ was potentially misleading’  

The Council upheld the decision of the Press Ombudsman.  Additionally the Council considered that the Newspapers offer of an interview provided sufficient remedial action to present the other point of view.