Resolution Statement 13364-16 A woman v Metro.co.uk

Resolution Statement 13364-16 A woman v Metro.co.uk

Summary of complaint

1. A woman, acting on behalf of her daughter, complained to the Independent Press Standards Organisation that Metro.co.uk breached Clause 2 (Privacy) of the Editors’ Code of Practice in an article headlined “Domestic violence victim’s powerful open letter to boyfriend who beat her”, published on 8 November 2016.

2. The complainant expressed concern that the newspaper had accompanied an article, which reported that her daughter’s former partner had been sentenced to four years in prison for domestic violence, with photographs of her daughter that had been taken from her Facebook profile without permission.

3. The newspaper said that an agency had supplied the article, and it had confirmed that the images were taken from a Facebook profile which was open to the public. It said that it had already removed the images from the article at the request of the complainant’s MP.   

Relevant Code provisions

4. Clause 2 (Privacy)

i) Everyone is entitled to respect for his or her private and family life, home, health and correspondence, including digital communications.

ii) Editors will be expected to justify intrusions into any individual's private life without consent. Account will be taken of the complainant's own public disclosures of information.

Mediated outcome

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

6. The newspaper offered to remove the name of the complainant’s daughter from the article.

7. The complainant said that the newspaper’s offer would resolve the matter to her satisfaction.

8. 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: 18/11/2016
Date complaint concluded by IPSO: 08/03/2017