THE press watchdog has upheld a complaint from Nicola Sturgeon over a report based on a leaked memo that claimed she secretly wanted David Cameron to win May's general election.
The story, published on the front page of The Daily Telegraph on April 4 under the headline "Sturgeon's secret backing for Cameron", also claimed that the First Minister had told the French Ambassador that she did not think Ed Miliband was Prime Minister material.
Ms Sturgeon today said the ruling was a "victory for truth" and accused the newspaper of "failing to carry out the most elementary of journalistic checks and balances".
IPSO, which published its judgement today, found that the newspaper had been within its rights to report the contents of the memo, which it was subsequently found was leaked with the authorisation of the then-Secretary of State for Scotland, Alistair Carmichael.
However, it did not contact the First Minister or the French Ambassador, Sylvie Bermann, to verify its accuracy ahead of publication. As a result, the article was "significantly misleading". It told The Daily Telegraph to publish the adjudication on page 2 of the newspaper with a front-page reference, and online.
Ms Sturgeon said: "I welcome today's unequivocal verdict by IPSO on the Daily Telegraph's story, which is a victory for effective regulation of the press - and for the truth.
"The complaint was lodged on the basis that the Telegraph's conduct in producing this story fell short of the expected journalistic standards.
"Subsequent events have proven conclusively that the story was entirely untrue, and today's ruling simply underlines that."
The First Minister added: "The press have a vital job to do in scrutinising the work of government and of the political process in general. That is a role which is essential for democracy, and it is scrutiny which I welcome.
"But that does not mean that the press themselves are above and beyond scrutiny and oversight. They have a duty to ensure, as far as possible, that the stories they present to readers are fair, balanced and - above all - accurate.
"The Daily Telegraph, in failing to carry out the most elementary of journalistic checks and balances, failed in this case to meet that duty."
The memorandum had been written by a senior British civil servant a week after Ms Sturgeon met Ms Bermann, following a conversation with the French Consul-General. It undermined her public statements at the time, in which she said she wanted to form a 'progressive alliance' with Labour and deny Mr Cameron a Downing Street return.
The Daily Telegraph said it had confirmed the document was authentic with two well-placed sources, and had no reason to doubt its accuracy. It denied having any obligation to contact Ms Sturgeon prior to publication.
However, IPSO found that the memorandum represented - at best - a second-hand account given a week after the meeting, which contained the serious implication that Ms Sturgeon had been disingenuous in her public statements.
Matt Tee, Chief Executive of IPSO, said: "Clause 1 of the Editors' Code obliges the press to take care not to publish inaccurate, misleading or distorted information. This article was significantly misleading because the newspaper had failed to make clear that it did not know whether the account the memorandum presented was true. A front-page story such as this needs to be corrected in a prominent way and we have required the Daily Telegraph to publish our adjudication in full on page 2 with a reference on the front page of the newspaper, which it did today.
"IPSO's policy when dealing with complaints that have generated significant public or group interest is to lay out a clear account of our process and findings. We will continue to do this to assist not just complainants, but also journalists and editors seeking guidance on the Editors' Code."
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