FHM rapped by PCC for publishing photo of topless 14-year-old girl

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The Press Complaints Commission (PCC) has weighed in again on user-generated material, slamming lad's mag FHM for publishing, without consent, a topless photo of a 14-year-old girl taken on a mobile phone.

The picture appeared in the April 2007, edition of the magazine as part of a gallery of snapshots sent in by readers.

The photo had been taken in 2005, when the girl was underage, prompting her parents to lodge a complaint, which was subsequently upheld by the press watchdog.

"The publication of the photograph, which had been published without any form of consent, represented a serious intrusion into the girl's privacy and had had a significant effect on her emotionally and at school," said the PCC in its ruling.

Photographs of girls submitted by readers have formed a staple of modern lad's mags. FHM was one of the first magazines to take capitalise, launching the hugely popular Highstreet Honeys section.

FHM said it received approximately 1,200 photographs for publication each week from, or on behalf of, women posing topless or in lingerie.

It added it was "extremely surprised" to learn that the photograph was taken when the complainants' daughter was 14-years-old as "she certainly appeared to be older."

"The magazine had been informed that the complainants' daughter was in a cohabiting relationship with the person who submitted the photograph and, in those circumstances, no further enquiries about the image were made," said the ruling.

"The magazine had clearly not taken any sort of adequate care to establish the provenance of the photograph and whether it was right to publish it.

"It should have been much quicker to recognise the damage that publication would have caused the girl, and offered to publish an apology or take other steps to remedy the situation to the satisfaction of the complainant. Failure to respond in a swift and proportionate manner aggravated what was a significant breach of the Code," added the adjudication.

Although sent electronically, the image did not appear either online or on FHM's dedicated mobile phone site. The magazine has since junked the print-edition gallery feature.

"We have also put in place still more stringent measures aimed at preventing people who submit pictures from misleading FHM as to their provenance," a spokesman for the magazine told Journalism.co.uk.

"Again, we can only apologise for any upset caused to the girl's family."

Last month, the PCC upheld a complaint made against the Scottish local newspaper, the Hamilton Advertiser, which printed still photographs taken from mobile phone footage of children in class.

The stills were taken without parental consent, and showed children that could clearly be recognised.

Last Friday, chairman of the Commission, Sir Christopher Meyer, spoke of the watchdog's changing role since widening its remit to consider audiovisual material posted on newspaper and magazine websites, and the industry's need to adapt to the "opportunity and anxiety" that exists in the digital era.