Press regulator is failing women with approach to transgender coverage

[ChristinaXYZ]

New piece published by Fair Play For Women

fairplayforwomen.com/ipso-failing-women-with-transgender-rules/

"Fair Play For Women submitted ten complaints to IPSO between July 2019 and December 2021. In each complaint, the word “woman” or “female” had been used to describe an individual whose sex is male but now self-identifies as a transgender woman. In most cases, “woman” appeared in the headline without any clarification in the body of the story that the individual was transgender and not a natal female. Most stories related to sexual or violent offending; some accused and some convicted. In most cases we escalated the complaint all the way to the IPSO Complaints Committee for final review.

We said that use of the word “woman” in the headline was a breach of Clause 1(i) of the Editors Code “The Press must take care not to publish inaccurate, misleading or distorted information or images, including headlines not supported by the text.”

We argued that when a newspaper covers a story about crime an individual’s sex becomes relevant to the public’s proper understanding of that story. This is because the propensity to commit crime is well known to be highly sex-dependent (most violent and sexual crime is committed by males not females). Most readers will understand the word ‘woman’ in a headline to mean a person whose sex is female not male. As such, the inaccurate and misleading use of the word “woman” in a story about crime distorts public understanding and awareness of male patterns of criminality. It is therefore in the public interest for IPSO to uphold the accurate reporting of sex in these cases.

Nevertheless, IPSO rejected all of our complaints..."

[ErrolTheDragon]

IPSO isn't fit for purpose then.

A headline doesn't have to refer to the person's sex at all (there are commendable examples of this which are clearly fine within the guidelines). There's no excuse whatever for a counterfactual headline, or content, especially using the biological descriptor 'female' for a male.

[MrsOvertonsWindow]

IPSO - captured by the trans lobby - never.....

www.ipso.co.uk/resources-and-guidance/transgender-guidance/

[Abitofalark]

From a quick read, I gather the reasons for turning down complaints from women are either

that they are accurately reporting what is said in court or how the person is referred to by the judge
or
that it is a third-party complaint rather than a complaint by the person, in which case, consent and privacy of the person are at issue.

Fair Play for Women has provided a list of the 10 headlines of complaint and the correspondence with IPSO and / or its Complaints Committee. This is useful because they're not easy to identify from the IPSO list of complaints or to see the reasons.

Not a Fair Play for Women case, but on searching the IPSO complaints list, I noticed a complaint: the Trans Legal Project v The Daily Telegraph, which from a quick skim, was about trans and hospitals, which was partly upheld. Might be of interest to readers here.

[Needmoresleep]

Following the link from MrsOverton, IPSO does not seem to have the same belief in balance that they might expect of MSM. Not one of the external resources they suggest is remotely gender critical. Instead all are lobbying allies of Stonewall.

I think it is IPSO not newspaper editors. The Mail regularly reports on “women” then allows their picture editor to add an often unflattering picture of what is clearly a bloke, leaving their reader in little doubt. Forced language is surely an unnecessary restriction on a free press.

[RoaringtoLangClegintheDark]

Fucking IPSO. Totally captured, indeed.

So disappointing. I can’t say I’m really surprised but I did have a tiny bit of hope that somebody might be listening. Fuckers.

[Artichokeleaves]

In effect, when women try to say politely "er, that's my foot you're standing on" they get a hard stare and a cold "I am not standing on your foot. I am not standing. There is no foot. Stop infringing my rights and questioning my existence."

("and besides, a 'foot' is a patriarchial structure that I am bravely word salading about")

No. Get off our damn foot. Now.

[RoaringtoLangClegintheDark]

Spot on, as always, Artichoke.

[ZandathePanda]

This is the problem is that they are not using the dictionary or scientific definition of women.

From their website:

The following organisations may also be able to provide further information, advice and support:

Stonewall
The Gender Identity Research and Education Society (GIRES)
Gendered Intelligence
Mermaids
Press for Change
Scottish Transgender Alliance

Since the trans definitions seemed to have moved on since 2016 they need to update their policies asap.

Wheres the checks and balances? Due diligence?

The ISPO is increasing risk to everyone, including trans individuals, with not allowing accurate reporting.