OH HOW WE LAUGHED AT BENNETT'S CRAP

• 
• 

 The Madeleine Foundation complaint to the PCC

  Tony Bennett on Mon Dec 28, 2009 9:51 am

aliberte2 wrote:This Might Best be Suited for Tony, but Didn't Want to Break My Own Rule! 

Was there no PCC Complaint Made Against Mike Gunnill the Photographer? If Not, How Come? And Then Why Did Stevo Do What He did? (Speculation on That Last Point Welcome).

Here is my complaint to the P.C.C. about the Sunday Express article. The PCC rejected the complaint, saying that the newspaper had an 'absolute right' to its opinions and had not made significant errors of fact.

Steve Marsden who was then the webmaster for The Madeleine Foundation was personally outraged by Mike Gunnill's conduct. He set up a dummy Mike Gunnill website which contained some strong language. That was his own decision and nothing to do with his job as Madeleine Foundation webmaster. 

However, he also posted a hostile article about Mike Gunnill on our website, which he had no authority to do. As soon as I found out about it, I ordered him to take it down. That incident led directly to our deciding that it was now time for us to seek a new webmaster.

Here's the original complaint to the P.C.C.:

To: Press Complaints Commission 

Wednesday 19 August 2009 

Dear Sir,

I act for Miss Debbie Butler in the matter of her formal complaint to you about the contents of Sunday's front-page article: "The McCanns' Stalker". This is a complaint under the Press Complaints Commission code and a copy is being sent to Scott Langham at the Press Complaints Commission for immediate action. 

A summary of Miss Butler's complaints is as follows: 

The 'Sunday Express', like all other newspapers, has a duty under the Press Complaints Code to be fair and accurate.Against those benchmarks, here are the complaints about the Sunday Express article that Miss Butler now makes. For the record, her address is [withheld]:

1. Describing Debbie Butler as a 'stalker' in respect of one leaflet drop in Rothley and nothing else was neither fair nor accurate. Making it a front-page leaflet with a picture clearly exposes her to risk of unfair attack. What she has done is distribute a factual leaflet. There is absolutely no course of conduct by her in relation to the McCanns that could remotely be described as 'stalking'. 

2. Describing '10 Reasons' as a 'hate leaflet' (one villager was quoted as saying the leaflet was 'drumming up hate' and the 'Sunday Express' described it as 'highly inflammatory') was grossly unfair and grossly inaccurate, especially as the 'Sunday Express' did not explain the contents of the leaflet

3. The 'Sunday Express' deliberately chose the worst photograph they could take of her to portray her as 'a hard cow', which she was not. That was manifestly unfair 

4. Neither Debbie Butler nor anyone else in the Madeleine Foundation sent a leaflet to Brian and Janet Kennedy. We do not know where she lives. This was therefore inaccurate. 

5. It was not a 'late-night' leaflet drop. It took place between 3pm and 6pm. That was also therefore inaccurate.

6. The leaflet drop did not involve 10 people, it involved 3. That was also inaccurate. 

7. Dr Gerald McCann was allowed to get away with describing the leaflet as 'despicable lies'. The 'Sunday Express' made no attempt to inform its readers that the content of the leaflet was the truth and that the McCanns had never rebutted any of the claims made in either '60 Reasons' or '10 Reasons'. This was grossly unfair and inaccurate. The leaflet was not 'lies' nor 'despicable lies'. It was the truth. 

8. Debbie Butler was described in the 'Sunday Express' article as 'a single parent family with two children'. A more accurate description would have been 'a successful Kent businesswoman' - a fact which the reporter was made well aware of. The mere description of her as 'single parent' was unfair. 

 Re: ***************

  ******** on *m

Finally I received my copy of 60 Reasons yesterday, which I requested in a recent email to you. I sent off my £5 and received the book. I didn't use my real name of course because thanks to you, is very well known. I did however prove that you are still selling copies of this publication, but more of this later.

SELLING AGAIN BENNETT?

 Re: 

  Tony Bennett on m

*******
Finally I received my copy of 60 Reasons yesterday, which I requested in a recent email to you. I sent off my £5 and received the book. I didn't use my real name of course because thanks to you, is very well known. I did however prove that you are still selling copies of this publication, but more of this later.

One swallow doesn't make a summer.