Adjudication No. 1084 (June 2000) [2000] APC 19

ADJUDICATION No. 1084 (June 2000)

The Press Council has dismissed a complaint brought by Alice Beauchamp against the Village Observer over certain statements made by local councillor, Ian Longbottom, the owner-editor of the newspaper, in a bylined column headed `Election Aftermath'. The article contained observations in the wake of a local election.

The complainant claimed that, in his article, Cr Longbottom heaped praise on a number of candidates without disclosing his close connection to them; that he denigrated some other candidates through distortion of facts; and that he cast a number of derogatory allegations on the complainant without ensuring fairness and balance in the article.

The article, the nub of the complaint, was published in the October edition of the Village Observer. The complainant wrote a letter to the paper and claimed that, despite being hand delivered before the copy deadline, it was not published in the November edition. The December edition carried letters written by some people who claimed to have been disparaged by Cr Longbottom, including the letter written by the complainant. Cr Longbottom expressed his apology for not printing these letters in the November edition, explaining that, in the light of a number of allegations made in the letters, it was necessary for the paper to re-check its story.

In a number of adjudications, the Press Council has acknowledged that, in the determination of whether a newspaper had breached the Council's principles, greater leeway is given to articles that are clearly opinion pieces.

Without going into the details of the allegations and counter-allegations, the matter in this instance boils down to a single issue, namely, whether the newspaper has afforded a reasonable opportunity to an aggrieved reader to respond to the published column. The Council is satisfied that, in the context of a monthly newspaper and in the light of the explanation provided by the editor for holding the letters over to the December edition, the newspaper cannot be said to have acted unreasonably.