Remember a few months ago when Jan Moir wrote an "extremely distasteful" article in the Daily Mail about Stephen Gately's death - and the furious backlash that resulted?

Well, it's been investigated by the Press Complaints Commission (who received 25,000 complaints) and the Crown Prosecution Service (2 complaints), and both have cleared the paper of any wrongdoing.

The watchdog's head said aspects of the piece were "extremely distasteful".

But the PCC said it was an essential point of principle that papers could print views which might offend readers.

Meanwhile, the Crown Prosecution Service has ruled the article did not break the law.

-oOo-

PCC chairwoman Baroness Buscombe said the commission found the article "in many areas extremely distasteful" but that the Mail had escaped censure because it "just failed to cross the line".

More info here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8521105.stm

And here's the ruling itself: http://www.pcc.org.uk/news/index.html?article=NjIyOA==

Scanning through the adjudication, it seems they believe it didn't breach their code because:

• it was clearly marked as a comment piece by a columnist known for her controversial views, so couldn't be mistaken for a factual piece
• it was published six days after the death
• it didn't use any prejudicial or pejorative terms for homosexuality / homosexuals in general
• the paper itself published a contrasting point of view the following Monday
• the public backlash the paper received was a healthy way of demonstrating criticism and disapproval of the article's contents
• the columnist apologised to the family
• the PCC felt it wasn't appropriate to censor the columnist's remarks