A Man and the Irish Independent

The Press Ombudsman has decided to uphold a complaint by a member of An Garda Síochána that an article on 10 May 2012 headlined “Gardaí pocketed €3,500 each for overtime during VIP visits” was a breach of Principle 1 (Truth and Accuracy) of the Code of Practice for Newspapers and Magazines.

The newspaper offered to publish a clarification re-stating the article’s account that Gardaí were paid this sum on average – rather than each – as a result of the visits of Queen Elizabeth and President Obama in 2011. This offer was rejected as inadequate by the complainant, because the newspaper neither apologised for nor accepted that the headline was incorrect.

When headlines misrepresent the information in an article as a whole it can amount to a breach of Principle 1 of the Code. In this case, the error in the headline – including the inference that the sum mentioned was an after-tax payment – was, in the opinion of the Press Ombudsman, significantly misleading and therefore breached Principle 1 of the Code.

12 June 2012