Sun newspaper rapped for Charlotte Church baby story

[TheMoog]

Sun rapped for Charlotte Church baby story

Sun rapped for Charlotte Church baby story | Media | MediaGuardian.co.uk

Stephen Brook, press correspondent
Friday May 11, 2007
MediaGuardian.co.uk


Church: representatives said that by referring to 'rumours' of a pregnancy, the Sun tried to avoid its responsibilities. Photograph: Channel 4

The Press Complaints Commission has significantly tightened its rules on reporting pregnancy with a verdict in favour of singer Charlotte Church against the Sun .
The PCC ruled that the newspaper intruded into the singer's privacy in February when it reported rumours that she was pregnant, in a story headlined "Baby rumours for sober Church".
The Sun has published the PCC's adjudication on page two today.
"In these circumstances it seemed to the commission that the newspaper had simply tried to circumvent the privacy provisions of the [PCC] code by presenting the story as speculation," the PCC said.
"This was not acceptable within the spirit of the code."
The Sun had told Church's PR agent it had "firm information" that she was pregnant, but chose not to report her pregnancy as fact.
Church's representatives had told the Sun that if the singer was pregnant, no statement would be made until after the 12-week scan or when a doctor said it would be safe to tell family and friends.
In spite of this, the Sun published an article referring to rumours about a pregnancy.
The Sun did not deny to the PCC that it had received firm information that Church was pregnant, but said it reported speculation prompted by a "very public change in behaviour when it came to her consumption of alcohol and cigarettes".
Church's representatives said that the newspaper knew about the pregnancy and knew that it could not be reported but, by referring to "rumours" of a pregnancy, the Sun tried to avoid its responsibilities.
Last year, the PCC ruled against the Independent after it revealed that the actress Joanna Riding was pregnant before she had told her family.
The PCC ruled at the time that this was a serious intrusion and that "as a matter of common sense newspapers and magazines should not reveal news of an individual's pregnancy without consent before the 12-week scan, unless the information is known to such an extent that it would be perverse not to refer to it". The Riding case was the first time the PCC has made a public ruling on the reporting of pregnancy.