Decided by the Press Ombudsman

The Press Ombudsman has decided to uphold a complaint that an article published in The Corkman breached Principle 5.3 (Privacy) of the Code of Practice for Newspapers and Magazines because it did not take sufficiently into account the feelings of a family grieving over the death of their son by suicide.

The Press Ombudsman has found that an offer by the Irish Examiner was sufficient remedial action to resolve a complaint made by Mr Tom Quirke that an article published in that newspaper on 28 December breached Principles 1 (Truth and Accuracy) and 4 (Respect for Rights) of the Code of Practice for Newspapers and Magazine.

The Press Ombudsman has decided that a statement published by The Irish Times on 3 December 2011 was in breach of Principle 5.3 (Privacy) of the Code of Practice for Newspapers and Magazines because it failed to take sufficiently into account the feelings of Tom and Sally Fitzgerald, who were grieving over the death by suicide of their daughter Kate. The statement referred to an article that was published anonymously on 9 September 2011, and in which the author wrote about her personal history of depression. This article included some comments about the author’s experiences in her workplace, which was not identified. A subsequent article in the newspaper identified Kate FitzGerald as the author.

The Press Ombudsman has decided not to uphold a complaint by Mr Phillip Fay that an item published in the Sunday Independent on 18 December 2011 was a breach of Principle 8 (Prejudice) of the Code of Practice for Newspapers and Magazines.

The Press Ombudsman has decided to uphold a complaint by the Teaching Council that two articles in the Irish Independent on 22 November 2011 and 16 December 2011 about a survey conducted by the Teaching Council on maths teachers in secondary schools breached Principle 1 (Truth and Accuracy) of the Code of Practice for Newspapers and Magazines. Further complaints that the articles breached Principles 1 and 3 were not upheld.

The Press Ombudsman has decided to uphold a complaint from a parent made through her solicitor about an article in the Sunday World because it failed to observe the requirement of Principle 9 (Children) of the Code of Practice for Newspapers and Magazines that publications should take particular care in presenting information about a child under the age of 16.

The Press Ombudsman has decided that The Argus made an offer of sufficient remedial action to resolve a complaint by Mr. William Colgan that a report of a court case of 7 December 2011, in which a charge of careless driving against him was dismissed, was in breach of Principle 7 (Court Reporting) of the Code of Practice for Newspapers and magazines.

The Press Ombudsman has decided to uphold a complaint under Principles 1 (Truth and Accuracy) and 2 (Distinguishing Fact and Comment) of the Code of Practice for Newspapers and Magazines about an article in the Evening Herald of 5 January 2012, because the headline was misleading and reported a conjecture as fact.

The Press Ombudsman has decided that an offer made by the editor of the Westmeath Examiner was sufficient to resolve a complaint by a man about a report of a civil court case in which he was the plaintiff.

The Press Ombudsman has decided to uphold a complaint by the Irish Traveller Movement that an article in the Evening Herald on 14 September 2011 was in breach of Principles 2 (Distinguishing Fact and Comment) and 8 (Prejudice) of the Code of Practice for Newspapers and Magazines. The article, headlined “Traveller Gangs have become a mafia the law fears to tackle”, asked “When did Travellers go from being craftspeople to establishing themselves as a pan-national crime gang?”, and maintained that “many [Travellers have] turned to drugs and crime” and had become “what appears to be Ireland’s biggest crime gang.”