Occupied Tents, Vacant Media

The Press Complaints Commission has revealed “misleading information” regarding the source and veracity of thermal imaging photos of tents at the camp at St Paul’s. The findings follow a complaint by Andrea Bakacs on behalf of Occupy London against The Times, The Sun, The Daily Telegraph and The Daily Mail, all of whom were found to be in breach of the Editor’s Code for accuracy in this incident. These publications alleged that the tents at St Paul’s were 90% empty at night, prompting criticism of the movement.

The heart of the PCC complaint focused on the source of the information: the organisations named had never actually seen the police footage or images, nor received official on-the-record confirmation that such footage or images existed. Instead, they relied on statements made by City of London Corporation councilor Matthew Richardson and an unverified police source.

The complaint took Ms. Bakacs nearly five months to complete. In that time, she exchanged numerous emails with the PCC to achieve this small victory for press accuracy. Speaking about the ruling, Ms. Bakacs said, “it was a long painstaking process between me, and the legal departments of four newspapers […] after 5 months of back and forth, the commission decided to make a ruling as neither side was letting up […] I think the truth is what prevailed and awarded us our ruling.”

The publications named in this case have since printed corrections to articles referencing the thermal imaging of tents at St Paul’s.