Accuracy, truth top press complaints

Complaints about the truth and accuracy of newspaper and magazine articles accounted for one third of all complaints made to the Press Ombudsman’s office last year, according to the annual report of the Press Ombudsman and the Press Council of Ireland.

Press Ombudsman Prof John Horgan decided on 42 complaints last year, upholding 40 per cent of them. He said the volume of complaints received by his office had remained roughly at the same level as in previous years. Complaints about prejudice accounted for 23.5 per cent of complaints last year – a significant jump on the 2010 figure of 9.6 per cent. This was explained by the large number of complaints about two articles, Prof Horgan said.

One Sunday Independent article “Loud and proud gays want to take over rest of society” received 39 complaints and was not upheld. The second article “Sterilising junkies may seem harsh but it makes sense” appeared in the Irish Independent and received 27 complaints. It was upheld “because it was likely to cause grave offence to or stir up hatred against individuals or groups addicted to drugs on the basis of their illness”.

The Press Ombudsman is appointed by the Press Council and he is the first port of call for people who want to complain about articles in publications that are members of the council. Decisions by the ombudsman can be appealed to the Press Council, whose decision is final.

Speaking at the launch of the annual report, Press Council chairman Dáithí O Ceallaigh said the findings and recommendations of the Leveson Inquiry in Britain would be discussed by the Press Council as soon as they were published. He said the chairman of the Press Complaints Commission and one of his senior executives recently had a lengthy meeting in Dublin with him and Prof Horgan. “Quite a lot of material and matters were discussed at that meeting,” he said, adding that Lord Leveson had already expressed an interest in the structures and functions of the Press Council and Press Ombudsman.