Press Ombudsman announces his retirement

Mar 28, 2014 | Press Releases

The Press Council of Ireland has been informed by the Press Ombudsman, Professor John Horgan, that he will be retiring from his position with effect from 1st September 2014.

Professor Horgan was appointed by the Council as Ireland’s first Press Ombudsman in 2007, following a career as a journalist, a member of the Oireachtas, and Professor of Journalism at Dublin City University.

The Chairman of the Press Council, Mr. Dáithi O’Ceallagh, said today: “Professor Horgan was central to the establishment of the Office of the Press Ombudsman. The recently published Handbook on Code of Practice for Newspapers and Magazines containing a range of decisions made by him and by the Council in response to complaints under the Code of Practice is illustrative of his wisdom and sound commonsense, which draw on his wide journalistic, political and academic experience. He will be greatly missed, and both I and all the members of the Press Council are profoundly grateful to him and wish him well.

Professor Horgan said: “It has been a great honour and privilege to have served as Ireland’s first Press Ombudsman. I am particularly grateful for the support of my staff, of all those who have served on the Press Council since its establishment, and for the vital commitment of the press itself. All of us have shared the responsibility of setting up these new and independent institutions to underline the importance of public trust in the free press in a democratic society, and to promote best professional practice and accountability in newspapers and magazines.”

“I am convinced that, whatever forms media may take in the future, our press will meet the challenges it now faces with courage and confidence, and in ways which will ensure the continuing benefits, to the community as a whole, of the best traditions of journalism.”