D AGAINST WAINUIOMATA NEWS
Brief Statement from the Press Council on Case No 941The Press Council has upheld a complaint against Wainuiomata News regarding an article published on 5 June 2003.
The Council found that the article breached three of the Council’s Principles. The paper had made no attempt to contact the complainant to provide balance to the article and check the claims made, though it did subsequently offer a right of reply; although it acknowledged an error, it did not publish a correction; and the headline should have made it clearer that the views expressed were someone’s opinion.
The breaches were not at the top end of the scale but, cumulatively, warranted the complaint being upheld.