Egan and the Gorey Guardian

Complaint

Mr Liam Egan complained on behalf of MPACIE, a Muslim advocacy group, that a report in the Gorey Guardian on 4 November 2009 about his organisation’s call for a protest about the proposed visit of a speaker about the Holocaust to a local school had been in breach of Principle 1 (Truth and Accuracy) of the Code of Practice. The report was based on an article written by Mr Egan on the MPACIE website. He complained that the report had misrepresented the organization as calling specifically for a mass protest to take place at the school itself, when it had not done this. He also complained that the article was an incitement to hatred of Muslims and therefore a breach of Principle 8 (Prejudice).

The newspaper replied that while it was happy to accept that MPACIE had not called for any protest at the school, its interpretation of the complainant’s article written on the MPACIE website had been reasonable in all the circumstances. It nonetheless offered the complainant an opportunity to clarify his position in the paper. The complainant rejected this offer as inadequate.

Decision
The newspaper’s offer to the complainant of space to clarify his organisation’s viewpoint on the issues that he claimed were inaccurate was, in the opinion of the Press Ombudsman, a sufficient response on its part to the alleged breach of Principle 1 of the Code of Practice.

There was no evidence that the article complained of was intended or likely to cause grave offence or stir up hatred against Muslims within the meaning of Principle 8 of the Code of Practice. This part of the complaint is therefore not upheld.

6 January 2010