Travellers' complaints about newspaper articles resolved by PCC
Mike Linfoot complained to The Press Complaints Commission, who then negotiated changes to the articles in the Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph. Picture: screengrab from PPC.org.uk
MIKE DOHERTY
News Reporter
MIKE Linfoot, a Romany Gypsy/Traveller from Lancashire, has had two complaints against the Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph resolved by the Press Complaints Commission.
Mike Linfoot and the Travellers Movement complained to the Press Complaints Commission that the two newspapers had published reports which contained a number of inaccuracies and a pejorative reference to the Linfoot’s ethnicity, both in breach of the Editors' Code of Practice.
The articles were about a woman's appearance in court over charges of racial abuse towards the Linfoot family and also linked to the Linfoots planning battle with a number of immediate neighbors and with Chorley Council. Both the Travellers Movement and Mike Linfoot considered that the articles were unfair towards the Linfoots – the alleged victims of the racist abuse – and also misrepresented the facts of their planning battle with Chorley Council and their relationship with the wider community.
The complaint was resolved when the PCC negotiated the amendment of the online articles to include a statement from the complainant "setting out both the support his family had received from the local community and his explanation of the planning issues".
The statement that Mike Linfoot provided for publication by the two newspapers read: “We have a lot of local support. Our three boys are popular at the local school and my wife, Patty Linfoot is a Parent School Governor. I work hard for my family’s future and I pay my taxes. “
“We moved onto our land here because we wanted stability and an education for our kids and so that we can live together and care for the elder generation of our family. Before that we travelled in and around the Chorley area for forty years. I applied for planning permission as soon as I moved here and now we have a two-year permission to stay.
“I realize that not everyone might agree with me, but despite trying to work with Chorley Council for years to find suitable land for a site, we could not find anywhere else to go. I felt that I had no choice,” he said.
Mr Linfoot told Travellers' Times that he was glad to have his say and that he was “fighting for his kids and all Travellers everywhere.”
A spokesperson from the PCC- which is currently changing from a self regulatory body to one mandated by an independent Royal Charter- said: “This complaint is a good example of how the PCC is able to negotiate meaningful corrections, clarifications and apologies on behalf of concerned readers.
“Accuracy lies right at the heart of the Editors’ Code, and the PCC has dealt with a number of complaints about Gypsy and Traveller issues in recent years, many of which have been successfully resolved. We urge anyone with a concern to contact our staff at any time for an informal, confidential discussion about how we can help them, and how the complaints process works in practice," the spokesperson said.
Speaking to Travellers' Times, a spokesperson from the Travellers Movement said that the “key” to complaints about media coverage was understanding how the different regulatory codes worked. The spokesperson also claimed that “within the contexts and confines of their respective codes”, the PCC was the “easiest” regulator to work with because “their complaints team seem to be able to actually read a complaint and advise and act on the issues you raise whilst the iron is hot”.
He added that this was unlike some of the other media regulators who either take too long to process a complaint or “willfully misunderstand and obstruct your statutory right to complain.” The spokesperson added that the TM is keeping tabs on the changes underway at the PCC and would continue to engage with the regulator as it gained statutory functions.
The four media regulators are the Press Complaints Commission, The Advertising Standards Authority (who banned two of Channel 4’s ‘Gypsier’ billboards), and the two radio and TV regulators; the BBC Editorial Complaints Unit and Ofcom.
The links to the PCC resolutions are here: