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THE VOLUME OF COMPLAINTS to the Press Ombudsman grew by two-thirds last year, according to the office’s latest annual report.
Professor John Horgan’s report for 2012 (PDF) reveals that readers made 575 complaints to his office last year, complaining that various pieces had breached the Press Council’s Code of Practice for Newspapers and Magazines.
That marked a 67 per cent increase on the 343 complaints submitted in 2011 – though Horgan explained that most of the increase was down to two particular articles which attracted significant numbers of complaints from the public.
Those two articles had attracted “about 250″ complaints between them, with most alleging a breach of Principle 8 of the code of practice, relating to material which could stir up hatred against an individual or group.
One of those pieces – an article carrying comments from a Polish woman, given to a Polish newspaper, describing life on the social welfare system in Ireland – attracted a total of 161 complaints.
Horgan said none of these complaints had been formalised later, largely because of the Irish Independent’s own response – when it published a fuller version of the interview, an article from the Polish Ambassador to Ireland, and carried an acknowledgement that some parts of the original interview had been inaccurately translated.
Complaints about the truth and accuracy of content accounted for 292 of the 575 complaints, while pieces which had allegedly failed to distinguish between fact and comment were the subject of 82 complaints.
Two complaints related to the method in which previous decisions of the Press Ombudsman were published – including one case where the Press Ombudsman found that a newspaper had given undue prominence to its publication of a previous decision.
A complaint against the Evening Herald, over a piece discussing crime rates within the Travelling community, was upheld because the original piece had been published on a Wednesday, but a piece on the resulting Press Ombudsman ruling had only been published on a Saturday.
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Missleading headline makes it look like it was in ireland.
It doesn’t, You assumed wrong.
The hashtag is London, which is visible on all apps and desktop in the same way the headline is.
Cheers and Happy Christmas
:)
Miaow
in fairness its an irish news site so unless stated its reasonably safe to presume its ireland,little dull hashtags of which there are several doesnt make it plain to see
It is the main hashtag, which appears beside the headline in both the apps and desktop. Thanks!
Do people still use hashtags nowadays?
head up sinead keep up the good work
I’ve never noticed hash tags until now and tag is not shown when you look at list of news stories, London should have been in headline as I too presumed nightclub was in Ireland.
say it a third time wont make it any more prominent
Why is a shooting in a London nightclub news?
Because there was a shooting in a London nite club
But Ireland doesn’t care
One of hundreds in London. Why does this particular one make Irish news?
Lads if you “don’t care”, don’t click the bloody article and proceed to read it, then comment on it to have a moan.
Some of us have an interest in the world outside of Ireland.
Alright Holly, calm down… Don’t be getting your knickers in a twist
@green burqa.. didnt think nightclubs opened in ireland on christmas day.
I despair at the amount of bullies on this site with nothing better to do.
It was a good article Sinéad, well done! :)
Why cant u use ur real name so
I looked at the headline and assumed it couldn’t be Ireland, but seeing as this is an Irish news portal I just clicked in to be 100% sure. Regardless of hashtags, which I for one don’t look at, it is a completely misleading headline but that’s normal enough for this site. A custom we should be all used to, in fairness!
Happy Christmas anyway!
Lots of Us have Family and Friends in London.
The journal. UK
Dot co dot you Kay
Yaya Yaya Toure Kolo Kolo Kolo Kolo Toure Yaya Yaya To…. *gets shot*
Maybe because there are more Irish people living in London than in most Irish counties.
Typical England.
This one didn’t even make London local news! Common place here in London to be honest.
Hi Lucie,
In fact, it did. Was reported by all the British press, including BBC, Sky etc. And the London Evening Standard. Christmas Day shootings will generally make the news, even if shootings are quite common the rest of the year. Sad state of affairs though that it wouldn’t be news :(
Sinéad
have your say