Ruling

Resolution Statement – 05134-17 Miller v Daily Record

  • Complaint Summary

    Lynne Miller complained to the Independent Press Standards Organisation that The Daily Record breached Clause 1 (Accuracy) of the Editors’ Code of Practice in an online article headlined “Tragic Scots fighter Jordan Coe speaks of Thai boxing weight-loss torture in haunting video”, published on 2 April 2017.

    • Published date

      13th July 2017

    • Outcome

      Resolved - IPSO mediation

    • Code provisions

      1 Accuracy

Summary of Complaint

1. Lynne Miller complained to the Independent Press Standards Organisation that The Daily Record breached Clause 1 (Accuracy) of the Editors’ Code of Practice in an online article headlined “Tragic Scots fighter Jordan Coe speaks of Thai boxing weight-loss torture in haunting video”, published on 2 April 2017.

2. The article reported that a boxer had died of dehydration, as part of a training regime. It reported that in a video, he had “laid bare the secrets of the gruelling regime that killed him in an online interview before his death”. The video was embedded in the article, and showed the boxer discussing his training regime at Sumalee Gym. The video featured the Sumalee Gym logo, and referred to Sumalee Gym in the title.

3. The complainant, the Managing Director of Sumalee Boxing Gym, said that the article suggested that the boxer had been training with Sumalee Gym at the time of his death. She said that in fact, he had trained with a different gym for 15 months before his death. In addition, she said that the Sumalee training programme he described in the video reported on in the article had not been the cause of his death.

4. The newspaper said that the article made clear that the video of the boxer was recorded in 2015, when he was training with Sumalee. It denied that the article stated that the boxer had been training with Sumalee Gym when he adopted the training regime that it is claimed resulted in his death, nor that the training regime he was following at the time of his death was the same, or substantially the same, as the regime he used while at Sumalee Gym.

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. 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

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

7. Following IPSO’s intervention, the publication offered to remove the video from the article, and to publish the following footnote as a clarification:

This article originally featured a video of Jordan Coe being interviewed in 2015 when he was training with Sumalee Gym. We have since been asked to clarify that Jordan left Sumalee Gym 15 months prior to his death and that, from that time, he had no connection with them. We are happy to make this clear.

8. The complainant said that this resolved the matter to her 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: 03/04/2017

Date complaint concluded by IPSO 06/06/2017