PCC upholds newspaper's voodoo poll reporting
Earlier this month the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) decided the Sun had not been "significantly misleading" after Full Fact complained the newspaper had used 'voodoo polling' to justify an article on fuel prices.
Their headline read: "Fuel cost top stress" and the article went on to say: "THREE quarters of Brits say the soaring cost of petrol is the most pressing national issue, a poll says".
The 'poll' was conducted by campaigners FairFuelUK, and purported to show what issue the UK population felt was their most pressing financial concern.
It didn't. The poll featured on FairFuelUK's own website and gave visitors a limited range of choices for their most "relevant" issue. While this tells us a little about what visitors to a campaign website think, it tells us nothing about what the general public think.
Nevertheless, the PCC decided that the Sun had reported the findings accurately because the newspaper had clearly attributed the poll to a campaign group and made no suggestion it was official or had been "formally verified in any way."
It's disappointing the PCC are unwilling to uphold the most basic of polling standards when newspapers present them inaccurately.
Take a look at their decision and decide for yourself:
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Commission's decision in the case of Full Fact v The Sun
The complainant, acting on behalf of Full Fact, expressed concern that the newspaper had breached Clause 1 (Accuracy) of the Editors' Code of Practice. The newspaper had reported on the findings of a poll conducted by FairFuel UK. The article had stated "three quarters of Brits say the soaring cost of petrol is the most pressing national issue, a poll says". The complainant was concerned that the article had been misleading. He said that the poll had been conducted based on the opinions of visitors to the FairFuel UK website and had not represented the views of the wider population.
The Commission considered the complainant's concerns under Clause 1 (Accuracy), the terms of which state that "the press must take care not to publish inaccurate misleading or distorted information".
The Commission acknowledged the complainant's concerns about the integrity of the poll. The Commission, however, had regard for the fact that the newspaper had clearly attributed the poll to FairFuel UK and had explained that the organisation was a campaign group. There had been no suggestion that the poll had been official or that the results had been formally verified in any way.
The newspaper had been entitled to report FairFuel UK's findings, providing that it had done so accurately. The Commission was satisfied that the article had not been significantly misleading. There was no breach of the Code.