Stage hypnotist Paul McKenna has had an accuracy complaint against the Daily Mirror rejected by the Press Complaints Commission.
The story, headlined “It’s a load of doc and bull”, was a comment piece on the subject of doctorates, which said McKenna had received a “bogus” degree from “obscure degrees-by-post” college Laselle University.
McKenna’s solicitors argued he had completed a substantial doctorate at Laselle which, although not accredited, was “fully licensed”. When he realised it was not accredited, they said, he stopped referring to it in his publicity.
The Mirror supplied details about the university’s connection with the World Christian Church, background about the principal’s conviction for fraud and other evidence proving the university and its degrees were dubious.
The PCC adjudication stated: “The article was clearly presented as the individual opinion of the journalist concerned. Readers would not have been misled into believing that this represented anything other than a partisan view of the matter.”
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