A Man and The Irish Times

Complaint

The man complained that an article by Pat Cox in The Irish Times of 28 February 2008, about the dispute between the European Commission and Microsoft, was a breach of Principle 1 of the Code of Practice (Truth and Accuracy). He complained that the article was not an "opinion" piece but a piece of professional lobbying presented to readers as an article by an “informed” insider on the EU.

The Irish Times responded that it has – and always has had – a process for establishing the interests of contributors, and that it was stated at the foot of Mr Cox's article that the writer was an advisor to Microsoft, among other companies, on EU-US relations. The newspaper further pointed out that its opinion pages often carry articles by persons with a vested interest in the topic about which they are writing.

Decision

Newspapers frequently carry articles by people with vested interests - politicians, businessmen, trade unionists, representatives of NGOs and others – on topics of current interest. Except in rare cases, where the vested interests of the writer are quite obvious (the leaders of political parties or Government Ministers, for example) this particular newspaper makes a point of identifying the relevant interest or interests of its contributors so that readers do not labour under any misapprehension as to the writer’s objectivity. The description of Mr Cox at the end of the article made it clear to readers where his interests lay in relation to the issue he addressed.

5 June 2008