PCC rebukes Woman magazine for burying critical adjudication

The Press Complaints Commission has criticised Woman magazine after it failed to publish a PCC ruling with due prominence. In February, the Commission upheld a complaint from actress Natalie Cassidy after an article stated that she had lost weight by visiting a gym, rather than by following the routines set out in her own exercise DVD. The magazine had been unable to provide on-the-record corroboration of the claim and had not provided Ms Cassidy with an opportunity to set out her denial.

Having lost the case, the magazine was obliged to publish the Commission's ruling in full, with due prominence and with a headline reference to the PCC. The magazine failed to do this adequately, removing some parts of the text and publishing it an insufficiently prominent manner. As a result, the Commission has now found against Woman for a second time, and published a new ruling making clear that it "took a dim view of this conduct, which regrettably showed that the editor was not aware of her obligations under the Code of Practice." This underlines the high standards that the Commission expects from editors in the publication of corrections, apologies and adjudications.

Woman was required by the Commission to publish the further criticism in a prominent place, something that has now happened.

To read the PCC's new ruling in full, please click here.

To read the original decision against the magazine please click here.