THE Sunday Independenthas lost an appeal against the decision of the Press Ombudsman that the newspaper implied political representations were made on behalf of convicted killer Wayne O'Donoghue.
O'Donoghue was released from prison last January after serving three years for the manslaughter of his 11-year-old neighbour Robert Holohan.
Last July the Sunday Independentpublished an article in relation to the practice of politicians lobbying on behalf of prisoners.
The article carried the headline "Time to shout stop to the rife clientilism in politics" and "Politicians should be wary of lobbying on behalf of convicted prisoners, writes Eilis O'Hanlon". It was accompanied by a photograph of O'Donoghue chained and in handcuffs, taken during his trial in November 2005.
O'Donoghue's father, Ray O'Donoghue, complained to the Press Ombudsman that the article and photograph were misleading as no political representations had been made on behalf of his son.
The letter of complaint was forwarded to the Sunday Independentby the ombudsman. The letter had earlier been sent to the newspaper's editor by Mr O'Donoghue Snr. However the newspaper said it had no record of it. It offered to publish the letter, but this offer was rejected as inadequate by Mr O'Donoghue Snr. Despite this rejection, the newspaper subsequently published the letter.
The ombudsman last August upheld the complaint and said publication of the letter did not resolve the complaint.
In his decision the ombudsman said the reference to Wayne O'Donoghue in the text of the article was relevant in its immediate context, but "the combination of the photograph, the headlines, and the article's failure to make it clear that Mr O'Donoghue was not a convicted person on whose behalf political representations had been made, were significantly misleading".
The Sunday Independentappealed the decision to the Press Council of Ireland. However the council has now decided the newspaper's submission did not provide adequate grounds for appeal and upheld the decision of the ombudsman.
