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Dear Mr Cronin
Bashar al-Assad’s airmen laugh as they drop barrel bombs on fellow Syrians – The Telegraph, 20 May 2015.
Thank you for the Complaints Committee’s decision of 8 September below, declining to reopen my complaint about the above Telegraph article.
I note that this decision was issued less than three hours after my submission of 8 September (attached) wherein I had responded to IPSO’s Executive’s observation of 23 July that I “do not appear to be in a position to dispute that.. …other sections of the footage had been recently filmed” by presenting a case that the other relevant section of “barrel bomb” footage in the Telegraph’s report was at least as old, and possibly older, than that which I had previously demonstrated had been available on You Tube since 27 October 2012.
I received no acknowledgement of my submission of 8 September, which I appreciate was somewhat untimely.
I note too that the grounds for the committee’s decision no longer include the question of whether “other sections of the footage had been recently filmed” but are instead focussed on Assad’s claim that his forces have never used barrel bombs. (Confusingly, the committee’s decision states that I did not dispute Assad’s assertion. What would be the significance of my having done so? Perhaps this apparent error is an indication of the haste in which the committee’s decision was drafted).
Yours sincerely
Robert Stuart
https://bbcpanoramasavingsyriaschildren.wordpress.com/
——————————————————————————–
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Independent Press Standards Organisation – Our Reference 04599-15
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 2015 10:21:27 +0000
Dear Mr Stuart,
The Complaints Committee has considered your complaint, the email of 23 July 2015 from IPSO’s Executive notifying you of its view that your complaint under Clause 1 (Accuracy) did not raise a possible breach of the Editors’ Code of Practice, as well as your email of 30 July 2015 requesting a review of that decision.
The Committee acknowledged your concern about the publication’s claim that the video footage was new. However, the Committee noted that the article referred to President Assad’s claim that no barrel bombs had ever been used by his forces, an assertion that you did not dispute. Therefore, the Committee took the view that while the age of the footage would have been relevant to whether President’s Assad’s forces had recently used barrel bombs, it was not relevant to whether President Assad’s forces had ever used such munitions.
The Committee was, therefore, satisfied that your complaint did not raise a possible breach of the Code, and it declined to re-open your complaint.
The Committee would like to thank you for giving it the opportunity to consider your concerns.
Kind regards,
Ciaran Cronin
Ciaran Cronin
Complaints Officer
IPSO
Gate House
1 Farringdon Street
London
EC4M 7LG
Tel: 0300 123 2220
Website: www.ipso.co.uk
IPSO is the independent regulator of the newspaper and magazine industry. We exist to promote and uphold the highest professional standards of journalism in the UK, and to support members of the public in seeking redress where they believe that the Editors’ Code of Practice has been breached. We are able to consider concerns about editorial content in newspapers and magazines, and about the conduct of journalists.
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