COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE

A complaint can be made about an article that has been published in the previous three months or journalistic behaviour that has taken place in the last three months, so long as all information in relation to the complaint is submitted to this Office within that period.  A complainant must indicate to the Office (a) which Principle or Principles of the Code of Practice they feel have been breached, and why, and (b) how they are personally affected.  They must also, within that period, submit their complaint in writing to the editor, giving the editor two weeks to respond.

In the case of an article published online, the date of publication is the date upon which the article was first published online.

Any person or organisation that can show that, in the opinion of the Press Ombudsman, they are personally affected by the material that was published or the journalistic behaviour that took place. You can ask someone to assist you with a complaint or make a complaint on your behalf. Representative organisations can also make complaints.

In cases where the Office receives more than one complaint about an article where the complaints are made under the same Principle of the Code of Practice and are very similar in nature, the Office may decide to establish a “lead” complainant.  This complaint will then be taken up with the editor and processed in accordance with our general complaints procedures.  Complainants who submit a formal complaint about the same article subsequent to the establishment of the lead complainant will be advised of the fact that a complaint is being processed and will be notified of the outcome at the conclusion of the complaints process.

The Office may also decide to amalgamate complaints made about the same article, with the agreement of the parties concerned, if they are received in close proximity.

Member publications are listed here, and include:

• All daily and Sunday newspapers, including Irish editions of UK newspapers (print and online)
• The majority of local newspapers (print and online)
• Many magazines (print and online)
• Some online-only news publications

The time to process a complaint will vary. Complaints are usually resolved through conciliation within about four to six weeks. If the complaint is referred to the Press Ombudsman for a decision, it may take a further three weeks for her to make a decision. If her decision is appealed, that will lengthen the process again.

The complaints process is confidential until all aspects of the process are completed. All correspondence entered into between the parties during the process remains confidential to the parties to the complaint and the Office of the Press Ombudsman.

You should include your name in your complaint, but you may request that the Press Ombudsman does not publish it in her decision.

You are first required to complain in writing, by post or email, to the editor of the publication concerned. You should mark your complaint “Complaint under Press Council Code of Practice”, and you should clearly outline to the editor which Principle(s) of the Code of Practice you believe the article breached, and how you believe the article breached the Principle(s) cited in your complaint. You can contact our Office for contact details of any editor.

If, within two weeks from the date of your complaint to the editor, you do not receive a reply, or you are dissatisfied with the reply you receive, you can then complain in writing to our Office. Please remember that your complaint must be submitted to our Office within three months of publication of the article under complaint, or of the journalistic behaviour taking place.

You must make your complaint in writing either by email (administrator@pressombudsman.ie),  by post (Office of the Press Ombudsman, 32 Westland Square, Pearse Street, Dublin D02 N567) or via our online complaint form, a link to which you will find here.

Your complaint must:

1. Refer to an article or other content published within the last three months by a member publication of the Press Council of Ireland (in the case of an article published online, the date of publication is the date upon which the article was first published online) and/or refer to the behaviour of a journalist that took place within the last three months.

2. Show that, in the opinion of the Press Ombudsman, you are personally affected by the article or  journalistic behaviour.

3. In the opinion of the Press Ombudsman, be supported by sufficient evidence of a possible breach of the Code of Practice and is neither vexatious nor insignificant.

4. Indicate which Principle or Principles of the Code of Practice you feel may have been breached, and why.

5. Be accompanied by a dated copy of any print article under complaint and/or a copy or screengrab or link to any online article under complaint.

6. Be accompanied by a copy of your formal letter of complaint made under the Code of Practice to the editor, together with a copy of any response received.

If the subject matter of the complaint is the subject matter of court proceedings in Ireland, consideration of your complaint will be postponed until the conclusion of the court proceedings, provided that the court proceedings conclude within two years and all information in relation to the complaint is submitted within the three month deadline.

If you are not named in the article but you have satisfied the Press Ombudsman that you are personally affected by it, and if the article names another individual or individuals who may, in the opinion of the Press Ombudsman, also be personally affected by the article, the Press Ombudsman may require the written permission of any such individual or individuals before he can consider your complaint.

If, in the opinion of the Press Ombudsman, you can show that you are personally affected by an article or journalistic behaviour, and it presents sufficient evidence of a possible breach of the Press Council’s Code of Practice, the first thing this Office will do will be to seek to have your complaint resolved speedily by a process of conciliation between you and the editor of the publication concerned.

If your complaint cannot be resolved through conciliation, it will be referred to the Press Ombudsman for a decision.

The Press Ombudsman will make a decision on your complaint after considering all of the documents and correspondence passed on to her by the Case Manager. If you do not want your name to be published in her decision, you should indicate this and it can be removed. Decisions involving children may also be anonymised.

The decision will be sent to you and to the publication concerned.

The Press Ombudsman’s decision may take one or more of the following forms:

1. She can decide to uphold your complaint, either in full or in part.
2. She can decide not to uphold your complaint, either in full or in part.
3. She can decide that the publication offered to take or took sufficient remedial action which, in her opinion,  was sufficient to resolve your complaint.
4. She can decide that there is insufficient evidence available to him to make a decision on your complaint.

The procedures for the making of decisions by the Press Ombudsman do not provide for oral hearings.

All previous decisions of the Press Ombudsman are available here.

If any part of your complaint is upheld, the publication concerned must publish the upheld decision in accordance with the provisions of the Press Council’s Publication Guidelines unless the decision has been appealed by either you or the editor.  Please see here for the Press Council’s appeals procedures.

Yes – an appeal against a decision of the Press Ombudsman to the Press Council of Ireland can be made on one or both of the following grounds:

1. The procedures followed in making the decision were not in accordance with the published procedures for considering complaints.
2. That there has been an error in the Press Ombudsman’s application of the Principles of the Code of Practice.

You can read about the appeals process here.

Yes – instead of making a decision on your complaint, the Press Ombudsman may exercise her discretion to refer the complaint directly to the Press Council of Ireland for decision.  If she decides to exercise her discretion in this manner she will advise you and the editor accordingly.  The Chair of the Press Council may then activate a sub-committee of the Press Council to consider the complaint and make a decision.  Any such decision can be appealed to the full Council.