THE Scottish Mail on Sunday has been cleared by the Press Complaints Commission, following a complaint from the Scottish First Minister.
Alex Salmond appealed to the PCC over two articles published in the Sunday newspaper earlier this year, which he claimed were inaccurate and misleading.
Says the PCC: “The first article reported that Mr Salmond was at the centre of an ‘immigration scandal’ after ‘lobbying for an illegal immigrant facing drugs charges to be allowed to stay in Scotland’. A further article the following week said that Mr Salmond was ‘facing a Westminster investigation’ as a result of his support for the application.”
The leader of the Scottish National Party argued that the articles – headlined, ‘Salmond and the Asylum Fugitive’, and ‘Salmond Faces Probe over Case of Illegal Immigrant’ – breached Clause 1 of the Editors’ Code of Practice.
However, the PCC declined to uphold his complaint, ruling that the essential facts of the story were “accurately reflected in the articles under complaint”.
