Resolution
Statement – 09598-22 A woman v newsandstar.co.uk
Summary
of Complaint
1. A
woman complained to the Independent Press Standards Organisation that
newsandstar.co.uk breached Clause 1 (Accuracy) of the Editors’ Code of Practice
in an article headlined “Two people treated after fire in Heads Nook, near
Carlisle”, published on 9 December 2021.
2. The
article, which appeared online only, reported on a “house fire” at a named
address in the village of Heads Nook, and reported that fire crews had attended
the address.
3. The
complainant, who owned the house named in the article, said that the article
was inaccurate in breach of Clause 1; there had been no fire at her home, and
fire crews had not attended her address. She said that the fire had in fact
occurred at a different property.
4. The
complainant said that she wished for the publication to: remove the inaccurate
article from its website; publish a correction; send her a letter of apology
containing the correction.
5. The
publication accepted that it was inaccurate to state that the fire was at the
named property; it said that this was based on a misunderstanding of the Fire
Service’s log, which said that the fire occurred at a domestic property on an
access road leading to the complainant’s property. It removed the article to
address the complainant’s concerns, and in an offer to resolve the complaint.
6. The
complainant said that the removal of the article was not sufficient to resolve
her complaint.
Relevant
Code Provisions
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. In cases involving IPSO, due prominence should be as required by the
regulator.
iii) A
fair opportunity to reply to significant inaccuracies should be given, when
reasonably called for.
iv) The
Press, while free to editorialise and campaign, must distinguish clearly
between comment, conjecture and fact.
Mediated
Outcome
7. The
complaint was not resolved through direct correspondence between the parties.
IPSO therefore began an investigation into the matter.
8. During
IPSO’s investigation the publication offered to print the following correction
in its print edition, and in the print edition of its sister publication The
Cumberland News:
The
[publication] would like to clarify that a fire that occurred at 10:30pm on
December 8, 2021 was at a domestic property in Heads Nook, was not at [the
complainant’s home] as previously reported.
9. The
complainant said that this would resolve the matter to her satisfaction.
10. 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: 27/05/2022
Date complaint concluded by IPSO: 07/10/2022
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