The Press Council
A Miss Benson complained to the Press Coun- cil about an article by Richard West ('Time to free Mandela', 2 May). This was its adjudication: Richard West's article in The Spectator was obviously a subjective expression of his opinion but it included a number of apparent statements of fact. Many of these were assertions which would be contested vigorously by other obser- vers. Some of them were plainly inaccurate: for example, that Mr Nelson Mandela and others had pleaded guilty to all charges of seeking to overthrow the state by violence backed by an outside power when they had in fact pleaded not guilty.
The magazine published a corrective letter from a writer referred to in the article. It should have been prepared to publish also the letter contesting and correcting the article from the complainant Miss Benson, a biographer of Mr Mandela.
The complaint against The Spectator is up- held.
Previous page
