Resolution Statement 03284-16 Dyke v express.co.uk

Complaint 03284-16 Dyke v express.co.uk

Summary of complaint

1. John Dyke complained to the Independent Press Standards Organisation that express.co.uk breached Clause 1 (Accuracy) of the Editors’ Code of Practice in a picture gallery headlined “Amazing things we get back if we leave EU”, published on 20 May 2016.

2. The picture gallery showed photographs of a number of products. Each photograph was captioned to explain the EU regulation that affected the product depicted.

3. The complainant said that this gallery contained a series of inaccurate claims about the effect of EU law on the sale of goods including eggs, water, rubber gloves and oven gloves. The complainant also said that the claim that under EU regulations, eggs must be sold by weight and not by number was inaccurate.

4. The newspaper said it was satisfied that the picture gallery and accompanying captions were accurate. It did accept however that the caption which accompanied the photograph of a box of eggs was not accurate. As such the newspaper took the decision to remove the picture gallery from the website.

Relevant Code provisions

5. Clause 1 (Accuracy)

(i) The Press must take care not to publish inaccurate, misleading or distorted information or images, including headlines not supported by the text.

(ii) A significant inaccuracy, misleading statement or distortion must be corrected, promptly and with due prominence, and – where appropriate – an apology published

Mediated outcome

6. The complaint was not resolved through direct correspondence between the parties. IPSO therefore began an investigation into the matter.

7. After further correspondence, the newspaper offered to publish the following correction in the Corrections and Clarifications section of their website:

Correction 

The gallery was formed of 11 images. Each image carried a caption. The captions for images 3 (eggs), 5 (jam), 6 (water) & 9 (swedes) were inaccurate. In the case of caption 3 (eggs), the caption claimed that "A dozen eggs: In 2010 the EU said that food could not be sold by number but by weight". In 2010 the European Union was considering legislation governing food labelling. In June 2010 Renata Sommer the MEP responsible for steering the legislation confirmed 'There will be no changes to selling food by numbers". In fact a consumer who purchased eggs in the UK would be able to do so by number. Caption 3 (eggs) was therefore incorrect. Given that 4 of the 11 captions were incorrect this gallery has been deleted.

8. The complainant said the proposed correction would resolve the matter to his satisfaction.

9.  As the complaint was successfully mediated, the Complaints Committee did not make a determination as to whether there had been any breach of the Code.

Date complaint received: 02/06/2016
Date complaint concluded by IPSO: 02/08/2016