Accuracy and privacy top complaints list

Complaints over accuracy and privacy accounted for the bulk of complaints to the Press Ombudsman regarding newspaper and magazine articles last year.

In total, members of the public made 315 complaints to the Press Ombudsman, a decline of 10 per cent over the previous year.

Truth and accuracy were the main sources of complaint (116), followed by privacy (90), fairness and honesty (44) and distinguishing face and comment (40).

At the launch of its annual report today, Press Obudsman Prof John Horgan said the number of complaints made reflected the value that members of the public place on such matters.

He also said the internet was increasingly coming to the fore as an issue in privacy cases as publications use sources such as blogs, Facebook and Twitter for material.

“Complaints on use of this material underlines the risks run by members of the public who blithely put material into the public domain, heedless of the potential consequences of media interest in their activities. The web is, by and large, a private space,” he said.

Most complaints - some 224 - were not processed because the complainants did not pursue their objections or there was no prima facie evidence of a breach in the code of practice.

Of the 91 cases that were processed, significant numbers were resolved informally or successfully conciliated by publications offering to take remedial action such as including a correction or right of reply.

A total of 53 cases ended up being decided on by the Ombudsman. In all, he upheld 18 complaints, while a further 18 were not upheld. In the remaining cases, the publications were deemed to have taken or offered sufficient remedial action.

Just two serious complaints deemed to be significant or complex ended up being referred to the Press Council of Ireland for its consideration.

It upheld a complaint by the wife of trade union leader David Begg who argued that an article in the Sunday Independent was a breach of her right to privacy.

The article which appeared under the headline “Geraghty’s des res and the house Jack ‘built’ ” focused on the homes and salaries of trade union leaders.

This followed a controversial proposal by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions that tax should be applied to so-called “trophy homes”.

The council decided the photograph of Ms Begg’s home, together with details of its location and a reference to security arrangements, was “not essential to achieving the purposes of the story”, and upheld her complaint.

In a separate case, the Press Council found there was not a breach of its code of conduct in a complaint by Ryanair regarding an article in The Irish Times.

The article - headlined ‘The subsidies that keep Ryanair afloat’ - stated that the airline received “huge subsidies” from European airports.

Ryanair argued that the article breached the code of conduct on a number of counts, including its provisions relating to truth and accuracy.

In its decision the Council noted that the newspaper had earlier accepted the headline did not reflect the contents of the article and offered to publish a correction, and did so.

Ryanair did not consider this to be a satisfactory response. The newspaper also offered a right of reply, after the company complained to the Ombudsman, but this was turned down.

The Council concluded that while the headline had breached the code of practice, the newspaper had remedied the matter by offering a correction and right of reply.