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Sunday Life: complaint upheld by Ipso
Sunday Life: complaint upheld by Ipso
Sunday Life: complaint upheld by Ipso

Ipso upholds complaint against newspaper for publishing false rumours

This article is more than 8 years old

Sunday Life censured by regulator for intruding into rector’s private life

The Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso) has upheld a complaint against the Belfast-based Sunday Life and ordered the newspaper to carry its adjudication.

Ipso’s complaints committee ruled that the paper had intruded into the privacy of a Church of Ireland rector by publishing rumours about him.

Reverend Peter Thompson complained to the regulator after the Life published an article in February 2015 headlined “Tyrone cleric baffled by false gay rumours”. The article also referred to another rumour that he had been cautioned by police.

Thompson, who told the paper’s reporter that the claims were untrue and unsubstantiated, argued that the paper had sought to use his categorical denial as justification for circulating them further.

The newspaper explained that it was made aware of the rumours after being contacted by an unknown source. It contended that the article was in the public interest because Thompson was a prominent local figure, and the allegation that he had had a police caution was of a very serious nature.

It believed Thompson, in speaking to its reporter, wanted to take the opportunity to address the claims in public.
After he complained, the paper removed the article from its website “as a gesture of goodwill.” It said that it had not wished to cause further distress to the complainant.

But Ipso’s complaints committee made it clear that details of an individual’s sexuality form part of private and family life and, as such, receive protection under the terms of clause 3 of the editors’ code of practice.

It said the inclusion of Thompson’s denial of false rumours “was insufficient to justify the intrusion into the complainant’s private life caused by publication of the claims, regardless of their inaccuracy.”

Furthermore, Thompson’s “rebuttal of the allegations in conversation with the journalist did not constitute consent for publication.”

Ipso therefore decided the Life must publish its adjudication in print and online, as it did yesterday (see here).

Source: Ipso

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