The Press Complaints Commission has ruled that the Maidenhead Advertiser breached the editors' code in publishing a photograph of a thirteen-year old girl without consent.

The article, headlined "Dad tries to save daughter", followed the death of the girl's father as he tried to tried to rescue her from drowning.

The article, published in July, had included a photograph of the teenager in a bathing costume hugging her father. The same image was used in the Daily Telegraph.

The girl's mother complained to the PCC about the use of the photograph in both publications, saying that the image, which related to the child's welfare, had been published without consent, causing considerable distress.

The Telegraph "met the complainant's request for a goodwill payment" and the matter was settled privately, prior to the PCC being asked to rule on the matter, the adjudication states.

The local newspaper said that the photograph had been provided by a news agency. At the time of publication it believed that consent had been given.

Subsequent to the complaint, it had been informed that the photograph had been taken from Facebook and no consent had been obtained. It accepted a breach of clause 6 (children) of the editors' code of practice, which states states that a "child under 16 must not be photographed on issues involving their own or another's child's welfare unless a custodial parent or similarly responsible adult consents".

The Advertiser, which is owned by Baylis Media, apologised privately to the family.

The commission ruled that, under the terms of the code, the weekly title had a responsibility to check that the relevant consent had been obtained for publication of the photograph. This was particularly important given the nature of the story and the child's age.

Stephen Abell, director of the PCC, said in a statement: "The issue of consent is crucial in any story which involves the welfare of a child, and particularly so in this case where the circumstances were so sensitive. The responsibility lies with the newspaper or magazine to ascertain who is the competent authority to grant consent, and ensure that the correct procedures are followed.

"The image in this case was clearly intrusive, and the commission felt that its publication raised a serious breach of the code".

The Maidenhead Advertiser and the Telegraph were not available for comment at the time of writing.
Tags: Click tag to find related articles; click icon for feed

Free daily newsletter

If you like our news and feature articles, you can sign up to receive our free daily (Mon-Fri) email newsletter (mobile friendly).

Related articles