In December 2013, the Commission upheld a complaint framed under Clause 3 (Privacy) of the Editors' Code of Practice from Ms June McKibbin. This concerned the publication of a topless photograph of the complainant, published without her consent, which the Commission found to have constituted an unjustified intrusion into her privacy.
The newspaper published the Commission's original upheld ruling further forward than the original article; however, it failed to agree prominence and edited the adjudication so that a separate finding by the Commission that there had been no breach of Clause 1 (Accuracy) appeared more prominently than the adverse ruling under Clause 3.
In its second ruling, the Commission found that the newspaper had breached the Code's requirement that "any publication judged to have breached the Code must publish the adjudication in full and with due prominence agreed with the Commission's Director, including headline reference to the PCC". In the Commission's view, this was an "unacceptable failure on the newspaper's part to comply with the requirements of the Code".
The second ruling was published by the newspaper on 9 February 2014, in full and with agreed prominence.
Commenting on the decision, Charlotte Dewar, the PCC's Director of Complaints and Pre-Publication Services, said: "This ruling highlights the importance which the Commission attaches to the procedures for the publication of adverse adjudications. These are set out in the preamble to the Editors' Code and ensure that critical rulings cannot simply be buried."
To read the PCC's new ruling in full please click here
To read the original decision against the newspaper please click here
