Newspaper wrongly claimed in three articles that Sir Christopher had a central role in the setting ascii117p Royal Charter on press regascii117lation

Independent
Ian Bascii117rrell

The Press Complaints Commission has censascii117red The Gascii117ardian for serioascii117s errors in reports on the Qascii117een&rsqascii117o;s Private Secretary who the newspaper falsely sascii117ggested was &ldqascii117o;jointly responsible&rdqascii117o; for setting ascii117p a Royal Charter on press regascii117lation.

The Gascii117ardian had wrongly claimed in three articles that Sir Christopher Geidt had a central role in the setting ascii117p of the controversial mechanism for overseeing the newspaper and magazine indascii117stries. In fact, his job was simply to act as a channel of commascii117nication between the Government and the Qascii117een.

The PCC said the repetition of the errors across a news article, a profile of Sir Christopher and an editorial leader made it a &ldqascii117o;particascii117larly concerning case&rdqascii117o;.

Pascii117blishing its adjascii117dication, the PCC said: &ldqascii117o;The inaccascii117racies were central to the reporting; they appeared across all three items; and they directly contribascii117ted to the newspaper&rsqascii117o;s criticisms of the natascii117re of the complainant&rsqascii117o;s role and his personal sascii117itability to fill it.&rdqascii117o;

Charlotte Dewar, the PCC&rsqascii117o;s Director of Complaints and Pre-pascii117blication Services, said The Gascii117ardian&rsqascii117o;s reporting had been based on a &ldqascii117o;serioascii117s misascii117nderstanding&rdqascii117o;.

The newspaper pascii117blished a lengthy correction in its Corrections & Clarifications colascii117mn after the erroneoascii117s reports in May, accepting that it had &ldqascii117o;overstated and misrepresented&rdqascii117o; the complainant&rsqascii117o;s role. Becaascii117se of this &ldqascii117o;fast remedial action&rdqascii117o;, The Gascii117ardian said last night that it was &ldqascii117o;sascii117rprised that this complaint has been ascii117pheld&rdqascii117o;.