The Macclesfield Express, the Manchester Evening News, and the Mirror didn’t invade the privacy of or harass a woman in reporting on her partner’s death by suicide, the UK print regulator the Independent Press Standards Organisation ruled this fall.
The three papers published stories about the woman’s unnamed partner’s death and the inquest investigation into it. The woman complained to IPSO about the stories. The rulings don’t say when her partner died, when the reports were published, or what the reports were.
Ordinarily, IPSO includes such identifying information. iMediaEthics asked IPSO why it wasn’t published in the rulings. “As you say this isn’t typical but it’s not included because the complainant has been anonymised,” IPSO told iMediaEthics
The woman, who isn’t identified, complained the the Express’s article indicated she gave an interview which she didn’t, and she complained that it contained errors, published her address and left out information about her partner. IPSO ruled that the article wasn’t insensitive, contained enough information and didn’t suggest that the woman actually gave an interview. IPSO also rejected her complaint that the newspaper’s reporter’s contacting her for comment twice was harassment.
iMediaEthics has written to the three publications for comment about their reports and the ruling. We’ll update with any responses.