Daily Star justified in calling Rothley leaflet distributors 'sickos' - Press Complaints Commission decision

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Daily Star justified in calling Rothley leaflet distributors 'sickos' - Press Complaints Commission decision

Post  Tony Bennett on Wed Dec 23, 2009 7:55 am

Late yesterday I received by e-mail the text of the decision of the Press Complaints Commission regarding complaints we made about coverage in the 'Daily Star' of 15 August 2009 (the 'sickos' article) and 16 August 2009 (the 'stalker' article).

It must be remembered that despite the hostile tone of these two press articles, and a similar article in 'The Sun', the Madeleine Foundation received hundreds of thousands of extra hits on our website in the days following those news reports, numerous compliments about the '30 Reasons' article on our website, and a surge of orders for the now-banned '60 Reasons' booklet.

Here is the e-mail and the Press Complaints Commission judgment:

From: Scott Langham <scott.langham@pcc.org.uk>
Subject: 093429 / 093527 Sunday Express / Daily Star
To: "ANTHONY BENNETT" <ajsbennett@btinternet.com>
Date: Tuesday, 22 December, 2009, 17:19

By email

Our references: 093429 / 093527

22 December 2009

Dear Mr Bennett

Further to our recent correspondence the Commission has now made its assessment of your complaint under the Code of Practice.

The Commission members have asked me to thank you for giving them the opportunity to consider the points you raise. However, their decision was that there was no breach of the Code and a full explanation appears below.

If you are dissatisfied with the way in which your complaint has been handled - as opposed to the Commission ’s decision itself - you should write within one month to the independent Charter Commission er, whose details can be found in our How to Complain leaflet or at http://www.pcc.org.uk/complaints/process.html

Thank you for taking this matter up with us.

Yours sincerely

Scott Langham
scott.langham@pcc.org.uk

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++=

Commission’s decision in the case of Bennett v Sunday Express/Daily Star

The articles reported that the Madeleine Foundation had distributed copies of their leaflet ‘What really happened to Madeleine McCann? Ten key reasons which suggest that she was not abducted’ in the McCanns’ home town of Rothley , Leicestershire.

The articles variously referred to the leaflet as a “hate leaflet” and “highly inflammatory”, claiming that it contained “despicable lies” and that it was part of a “smear campaign”. The articles also claimed that the McCanns had been targeted by “sickos” and that the Chairman of the Madeleine Foundation was a “stalker”. The complainant said that all these claims were inaccurate and misleading.

In this case, it was clear to the Commission that the references to a “hate leaflet” and to the leaflet being “highly inflammatory” represented the newspaper’s robust position on the content of the literature being distributed by the complainant and his organisation, which could reasonably be described as controversial. The newspapers had the absolute right to do so, within the parameters of the Code of Practice.

Clause 1 (Accuracy) of the Code states that newspapers must distinguish clearly between comment, conjecture and fact. The Commission considered that – given the nature of the references, which were plainly subjective – readers would have understood that they related to the newspapers’ own views of the leaflet, which they were entitled to take. Equally, the Daily Star had been perfectly entitled to offer its opinion of the individuals behind the campaign (“sickos”) which, it was said, had caused distress to the McCanns. It was difficult to see how such a subjective term could have been interpreted as verifiable fact. The complainant may have disagreed with such a description, but this did not make it inaccurate in breach of the Code. Similarly, the Commission was satisfied that the newspaper had been entitled, in the circumstances, to refer to the leafleting as part of a “smear campaign”, or, by extension, “stalking”. Both terms clearly represented the newspapers’ opinion of the activities of the organisation. The reference to “despicable lies” had, in addition, been attributed clearly to a “source close to the couple”, in the case of the Sunday Express, and a “family pal” in the case of the Daily Star. There was no breach of the Code on these points.

The complainant had also claimed that the circumstances of the leaflet drop had been misrepresented. In the Commission’s view, however, the question of when the leaflets were distributed – at night-time or between 3pm and 6pm – and how many people were involved was immaterial to any general understanding of the matter. These references certainly did not amount to a significant inaccuracy under the terms of Clause 1 (ii). Finally, the complainant had said that it was not the case that the Madeleine Foundation had sent the leaflet to Brian and Janet Kennedy. Given that he had stated that he was unaware of their address, it was difficult to see how he knew that this was the position. In any case, there had been no complaint from Kennedys on the point.

Scott Langham
Head of Complaints
Press Complaints Commission

Halton House
20/23 Holborn
London EC1N 2JD
Tel: 020 7831 0022
Website: www.pcc.org.uk

The PCC is an independent self-regulatory body which deals with complaints about the editorial content of newspapers and magazines (and their websites). We keep industry standards high by training journalists and editors, and work pro-actively behind the scenes to prevent harassment and media intrusion. We can also provide pre-publication advice to journalists and the public.

Tony Bennett

Posts: 3968
Join date: 2009-11-25
Age: 64
Location: Harlow, Essex

http://www.madeleinefoundation.org.uk/

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Re: Daily Star justified in calling Rothley leaflet distributors 'sickos' - Press Complaints Commission decision

Post  vaguely on Wed Dec 23, 2009 8:41 am

Do you have the site stats for the individual extra visits? Were they mostly UK do you know?

vaguely

Posts: 440
Join date: 2009-12-16

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Site stats no longer available

Post  Tony Bennett on Wed Dec 23, 2009 8:52 am

vaguely wrote:Do you have the site stats for the individual extra visits? Were they mostly UK do you know?

These are held by our former webmaster Steve Marsden ('Stevo') who has been out of contact with us since early November.

I referred to 'hundreds of thousands' of extra hits. Steve said there were 'millions' of hits on the former Madeleine Foundation website during the four weeks after the articles appeared.

Tony Bennett

Posts: 3968
Join date: 2009-11-25
Age: 64
Location: Harlow, Essex

http://www.madeleinefoundation.org.uk/

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Re: Daily Star justified in calling Rothley leaflet distributors 'sickos' - Press Complaints Commission decision

Post  vaguely on Wed Dec 23, 2009 8:55 am

Thank you

vaguely

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Re: Daily Star justified in calling Rothley leaflet distributors 'sickos' - Press Complaints Commission decision

Post  Get 'em Gonçalo on Wed Dec 23, 2009 9:10 am

Tony Bennett wrote:
vaguely wrote:Do you have the site stats for the individual extra visits? Were they mostly UK do you know?

These are held by our former webmaster Steve Marsden ('Stevo') who has been out of contact with us since early November.

I referred to 'hundreds of thousands' of extra hits. Steve said there were 'millions' of hits on the former Madeleine Foundation website during the four weeks after the articles appeared.


I can well believe that because my own sites had many thousands of hits searching for the Madeleine Foundation - and my 'Truth about the Lie blog' had many thousands of hits when the McCanns went to Portugal for the libel trial. Each 'McCann' event drives people to the internet in search of the truth rather than just reading what's in the newspapers. People aren't stupid, they know something's not right, so why should this country treat us like mushrooms?

Get 'em Gonçalo
Admin

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Re: Daily Star justified in calling Rothley leaflet distributors 'sickos' - Press Complaints Commission decision

Post  Guest on Wed Dec 23, 2009 9:30 am

vaguely wrote:Do you have the site stats for the individual extra visits? Were they mostly UK do you know?


That is an interesting question, also, has this added attention resulted in many more membership applications world wide?

Guest
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Re: Daily Star justified in calling Rothley leaflet distributors 'sickos' - Press Complaints Commission decision

Post  Old Nick on Wed Dec 23, 2009 9:47 am

Tony, you may now officially be termed a sicko by the press but you'll always be a hero to me.

Old Nick

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Age: 45
Location: Hades

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Re: Daily Star justified in calling Rothley leaflet distributors 'sickos' - Press Complaints Commission decision

Post  vaguely on Wed Dec 23, 2009 9:48 am

I was just ponding on the correlation between millions of hits, and stevo disappearing.

vaguely

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Re: Daily Star justified in calling Rothley leaflet distributors 'sickos' - Press Complaints Commission decision

Post  Guest on Wed Dec 23, 2009 10:26 am

Oooh I would have been counted in those hits but of course I went because I half expected legal action to be taken.

Guest
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Re: Daily Star justified in calling Rothley leaflet distributors 'sickos' - Press Complaints Commission decision

Post  preciousramotswe on Wed Dec 23, 2009 10:32 am

I think it's wishful thinking to assume that all of the hits are from McCann-sceptics.

preciousramotswe

Posts: 269
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