PCC upholds complaint over coverage of sex assault case

The Press Complaints Commission is to issue new guidance on the identification of victims of sexual assault after what it called a serious failure by the Courier & Advertiser in Dundee.

According to the commission the newspaper was reporting on a court hearing at which a man admitted sexual offences against two girls who were both under 16 at the time.

In its report the paper referred to the locations where the offences had taken place, including the names of the streets, the PCC said, two of which being the residence of the victims.

Following publication of this material the girls' mothers complained separately that "because there were relatively few houses on the roads in question and because the report had stated their daughters' ages, both children had been identified to those in their local communities". This, they claimed, was a breach of Clause 3 (Privacy), Clause 7 (Children in sex cases) and Clause 11 (Victims of sexual assault) of the Editors' Code of Practice.

In its adjudication the PCC said the newspaper had accepted its normal practice of only publishing outline details of cases involving sexual offences "had not been properly followed".

"It removed the partial addresses from its online archive and circulated a note to staff reminding them of their obligations under the Code of Practice. In addition, the editor sent letters of apology to each complainant."

The commission concluded that publication of the material had been "a bad mistake" and upheld the complaint.

"The failure of the newspaper properly to consider the likely consequences of publishing information in the report, especially the references to the girls' partial addresses, was a serious one," it added.

The commission said with other complaints under Clauses 7 and 11 also upheld in the past year, the seriousness of the issue and the potential harm to those who might be identified, it has decided to issue new guidance to the industry on the matter, to be published later in the year.

"The Editors' Code is very clear about the identification of victims of sexual assault. In the vast majority of reports about sexual crimes newspapers take great care to abide by these requirement," Stephen Abell, director of the PCC said.

"However, if in doubt, newspapers should always err on the side of caution when considering what details to publish. The commission is committed to ensuring the highest standards in this area.

"The PCC seeks always to help vulnerable people in its work, and it is hard to think of an issue more important than the protection of victims of sexual assault. That is why we will shortly be issuing guidance to help prevent any future breaches of the code from occurring."

Deputy editor of the Courier Jim Allison told Journalism.co.uk the paper respects the PCC's decision.

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).