Decision of the Press Council
At its meeting on 10th September the Press Council decided to admit the appeal for consideration as a significant question regarding the interpretation of Principle 5.3 (Privacy) of the Code of Practice for Newspapers and Periodicals was raised.
The Council had a comprehensive discussion on the interpretation and meaning of the Principle and decided that the coverage in the newspaper was largely factual in nature and that it did not treat this tragic death unsympathetically. While the timing of the report was unfortunate from the point of view of the family the story was a current one.
The Council therefore decided to allow the appeal against the decision of the Press Ombudsman.