Press ombudsman rules on M&G versus Bosasa

The Press Council announced on its website last week that the Press Ombudsman's Panel has dismissed most of the complaints brought by Bosasa Operations, SeaArk Africa and Gavin Watson against the Mail & Guardian for an article headlined "Big stink over R9bn prawn farm", published on 22 February 2008. The complainants argued that the article was inaccurate and defamatory. The panel ruled that there was one breach of the Press Code by the newspaper in that it did not give the company an opportunity to respond to one of the allegations in the story.