AUSTRALIAN PRESS COUNCIL
Annual Report No. 32
Year ending 30 June 2008
Suite 10.02, 117 York Street SYDNEY NSW 2000 Australia
Telephone: (02) 9261 1930 or (1800) 025 712 Fax: (02) 9267 6826
E-mail: [email protected] Internet: http://www.presscouncil.org.au/
ISSN 0156-1308 Australian Press Council Annual Report 2007-2008
Contents
Chairman’s Foreword ...... 3
Free Speech Issues Report on free speech issues ...... 5 Charter of a Free Press in Australia ...... 23
Adjudications and Complaints Adjudications Nos 1362 - 1396 ...... 24 Adjudication publication details ...... 45 Complaints/adjudications 1976-2008 ...... 46 Index to Adjudications ...... 46 Complaints/adjudication statistics 2007-2008 ...... 47 Complaints not adjudicated ...... 50 Changes in principles and procedures ...... 51 Statement of Principles ...... 52 Privacy Standards for the print media ...... 53 Complaints procedure ...... 55
Other Council activities Administration and activities ...... 56 General Press Releases Nos 280 - 282 ...... 62 Press Council Publications ...... 65
The Council Changes on the Council ...... 66 Council members as at 30 June 2008 ...... 67 Code of Ethics for Council members ...... 69 Council Meetings 2007-2008 ...... 69 Elected and appointed officers of the Council ...... 69 Statement of Financial Position ...... 70
Publishers’ Statistics ...... 71
Graphs ...... 90
Annual Report 32 was edited by Jack R Herman
2 Annual Report 2007-2008 Australian Press Council
Ken McKinnon Chairman’s Foreword Chairman
Has the access of Australian citizens to accurate, fair and balanced information improved? Well, the answer looks like a curate’s egg. There are some signs that things have improved. Others look as if they may be about to improve but patience and a slow-motion camera is needed to catch any movement.
The Council The Council has worked hard on its own processes, with reasonable success. The increase of eight per cent in the number of complaints to the Council is best read as a sign of a more active newspaper-reading community. Whether the impetus is actually a more active, critical readership of newspapers, ready to fire off a complaint to the Council, or mostly the upshot of improvements in complaints handling, particularly speed of processing, instituted by the Council just over a year ago, is not clear. Complaints are handled more quickly because of new response protocols. Stronger efforts are being made to ensure complainants are concise, to the point and responded to within a short time (using email where possible). Council staff members are now empowered informally to nudge parties in the direction of a mediated or conciliated outcome, either taking the initiative themselves A tort of or using a trained member of the Council. Twenty-five complaints were satisfactorily resolved privacy, this way. without Even without these new measures fully in place, the average time taken last year, from receipt of providing complaints to completion, improved from 28.07 days to 26.8 days, and the time taken to complete somewhere in adjudicated complaints from 96.74 days to 87.14 days. national legislation an over-riding Freedom of the press guarantee of Notwithstanding the strong support for the Public Right To Know campaign from the combined freedom of Australian media during the year, positive government responses have been few. communication, The promises made by the incoming Labor Government in the election campaign of late 2007 and strong re- have not yet eventuated. So far there has mostly been reiteration of promises for reform of the affirmation of legislation, but little or no improvement of processes or of attitudes governing freedom of the media’s information. Journalists report no improvement in Commonwealth Departments (with the partial role of exception of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet) or the states. Attitudes have not providing the changed. Resistance, time delays and excessive costs (such as charging aggressively for notionally public with extensive decision-time) continue without change. information it has the right to know, The press and privacy would be a On another issue, the apparent tension between a free flow of information to the public and travesty. proper preservation of privacy has not unduly affected the Press Council’s work. The Council, which is responsible under existing laws for handling privacy complaints against the print media, has received very few such complaints. It is a matter of considerable importance, however, that privacy legislation is being re-considered by the Australian Law Reform Commission, and in some states. The recently completed ALRC review of privacy law proposes a tort of privacy. A tort of privacy, without providing somewhere in national legislation an over-riding guarantee of freedom of communication, and strong re-affirmation of the media’s role of providing the public with information it has the right to know, would be a travesty.
3 Australian Press Council Annual Report 2007-2008
Chairman’s Reform of information from the courts Foreword The oft-stated mantra that the courts exist both to ensure that justice is done, and is seen to be done, is at odds with the frequent impenetrability the print media experience in trying to report the courts. In one direction at least there are some encouraging signs of new possibilities. The mountain of unnecessary suppression orders that the courts collectively have amassed, which urgently needs cleaning up, is at last being tackled. Sadly, the total number, and even the full reach of this pile, is not known, not even within each state (because the fact of their existence might have been suppressed and judges have not always remembered to lift them when the need passed). Prue Innes, a member of the Press Council, Jane Deamer, a member of the Public Right to Know audit team, and others will study what needs to be done to ensure that orders are only made in well-defined categories and limited circumstances, for stated and limited purposes, for a defined time, on a nation-wide basis, that they are established and up-dated electronically and are accessible 24 hours a day for use by editors who need to know at the time an edition is going to press. The study has been commissioned by the Public Right to Know campaign for the Standing Committee of Attorneys General.
The It would be sad if that were to be the only reform courts would consider in the near future. traditional Justice cannot be seen to be done if the media are unable to report court proceedings easily and reluctance of accurately, including the preliminaries. For that to happen, court processes need substantial people in overhaul. Both judges and Directors of Public Prosecutions owe a duty to the public, as well as power to the parties to an action, to explore better way of informing the public. As it happens the Crown confide in the Prosecutors in the UK have shown the way, allowing evidence given in court to be reported on public the news or in the press, with pictures and video, as early as that night. The sky has not fallen in through the and the public is better informed. I do hope we will soon get some senior jurists in Australia who media is understand the need and respond with more openness. further inhibited by Summary increasing Summing up, the picture is one of quite slow adjustments to the many and various ways of numbers of communicating that are now available. The traditional reluctance of people in power to confide spin in the public through the media is further inhibited by increasing numbers of spin merchants, merchants, who in a time of fluid ethics, often resort to half-truths and lies. The truth is harder to get at. who in a time Reporters often get offered a bunch of twaddle and are prevented from getting directly to authentic of fluid sources such as, say, the mayors of municipalities, politicians, or the CEOs of major companies. ethics, often resort to half- In short, as Kipling would say, the Great Game is still on. Those who have knowledge, especially truths and powerful knowledge, don’t want to share it any more than they are forced to. The public has a lies. The truth right to know and governments should come clean about information they hold. Our public is harder to institutions and laws are not well geared to respond with reforms that will more successfully get at. equalise the scales in favour of the public being able to have full access to accurate, fair and Reporters balanced information. Reforming activities, undertaken by the Press Council, by the Right to often get Know campaign, by interested public bodies and, in prospect at least, by reforming governments, offered a are having to confront strong, self-interested reactionary forces. Although some ground has bunch of been won during the year, there have been disappointments too, so the game goes on. We do twaddle and understand that it is a Game unlikely ever to be completely won. are prevented Professor Ken McKinnon from getting September 2008 directly to authentic sources
4 Annual Report 2007-2008 Australian Press Council
Report on free speech issues Jack R Herman
ustralia has no constitutional protection for freedom of communication, although both the ACT and Victoria have legislation guaranteeing human rights. In absence of an over-riding A guarantee, any action taken by government, the courts or corporations can have an excessive impact on the ability of the press freely to report matters of public interest and concern. Among the international agencies there is some agreement the Australian situation is better than in previous years, although only marginally. According to Freedom House, in its 2008 report, Australia is ranked 35th among the nations of the world in so far as press freedom is concerned (from 39 in 2007). Reporters sans Frontieres (in its 2007 list) ranks Australia in 28th place (up from 35, after a number of years in which its ranking has consistently fallen). The Press Council’s interest in free speech area arises from its Objects, which seek to promote freedom of speech through responsible and independent print media, and adherence to high journalistic and The Council editorial standards by, among other things: has noted the •keeping under review, and where appropriate, challenging political, legislative, commercialincreasing or other developments which may adversely affect the dissemination of information of public decline in the interest, and may consequently threaten the public’s right to know; openness of •making representations to governments, public inquiries and other forums as appropriateinformation on matters concerning freedom of speech and access to information; and providers. •undertaking research and consultation on developments in public policy affecting freedomWhether of it is speech, and promoting public awareness of such issues. through In the previous Annual Reports the Council published material about the current state of play in legislation the issues about which it has made representations. In the 2006 State of the News Print Media in that restricts Australia and its 2007 Supplement the Council has published detailed reports on the issues material, impacting on freedom of communication. All of that material is available from the Council’s through the website. use of ‘spin’, This report concentrates solely on the Council’s free speech activities in 2007-2008. leaks and media Right to Know campaign management The Council has an on-going ‘come clean’ campaign to encourage governments and other holders of to release information to be more open with the public by providing the media with the information they need only a part of to report on matters of public interest and concern. The Council has noted the increasing decline in the story, the openness of information providers. Whether it is through legislation that restricts material, through though the use of ‘spin’, leaks and media management to release only a part of the story, though judicial judicial actions that suppress material before courts, or close the courts, or through the abuse of laws intended actions that to make information available (such as the use of ministerial certificates to stop material being available suppress under Freedom of Information laws), there has been a marked diminution in the ability of the media material accurately and fairly to report matters that are properly in the public interest. before courts, The major publishers and broadcasters, alarmed at the culture of secrecy in contemporary Australia, or close the initiated the Right to Know campaign in 2007. The first step was an audit of conditions impacting on courts, or the Australian media. The audit was headed by former NSW Ombudsman Irene Moss. Representatives through the of the audit visited the Council in late September to discuss matters of mutual interest. The Council abuse of laws passed along some of its own research on the topics of interest to the audit that the Council had put intended to together over the past decade. make In early November, the audit team presented its report to the Right to Know campaign. It noted about information 500 pieces of legislation, at the territory, state or federal level, which restricted media access to available information, and the growing trend towards suppression of information by the courts. In particular it found that Freedom of Information laws were ineffective, due to costs, time delays and the imposition of ministerial certificates. The audit report will be used as the basis of further action by the Right to Know campaign, which is now in the hands of the CEOs of the publishers and broadcasters. To assist the campaign with its efforts, the Council’s Chairman has put forward proposals for actions that the campaign can now initiate, and met with Creina Chapman, from News Limited, to discuss these proposals. The Council 5 Australian Press Council Annual Report 2007-2008
Free speech issues sees as priorities the reform of FoI law and practice, and the opening up to public scrutiny of government Gov’t restrictions information generally; the enactment of effective shield laws that will enable journalists to protect their confidential sources; and changes to court procedures to ensure that information from open courts are available to the public through the media. The Right to Know campaign has appointed Press Council journalist member Prue Innes to lead an inquiry into judicial suppression orders. The report is to be completed by November 2008.
Government restrictions Classification law changes As noted in last year’s report, in early July, the Press Council made a submission to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee Inquiry into the Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Amendment (Terrorist Material) Bill 2007. The Senate committee recommended some anodyne changes to the proposed Bil. So, on August 6, the Chairman of the Australian Press Council, Professor Ken McKinnon, issued a statement (GPR 280 on page 62) in which he said, “The proposed amendment to classification laws, currently before the Senate, aimed at restricting the publication of material that ‘advocates’ terrorism, are unnecessary, dangerous and inimical to essential freedom of communication. It is a further egregious example of the government’s consistent Opinion or tendency to legislate limits on the public’s access to information.” commentary The government has already demonstrated that it has at its disposal powers more than sufficient upon the to restrict dangerous publications, including laws against sedition, advocacy of violence, racial vilification and various provisions within the Criminal Code and anti-terrorism legislation. The issuing news, or of an “RC” classification by the Classification Review Board against Defence of the Muslim Lands material that and Join the Caravan in 2006 clearly shows that the present scheme leads to bans on public analyses the access to material that advocates terrorism. In fact, the current classification powers are so sweeping underlying that they even allowed the banning of Dr Philip Nitschke’s, The Peaceful Pill Handbook, action well causes of beyond any desirable public restrictions on the free flow of information. terrorism, The new proposals, if enacted, will not only put material that directly advocates terrorism outside may still be the law but also anything considered by authorities to indirectly advocate terrorism. Opinion or commentary upon the news, or material that analyses the underlying causes of terrorism, may still banned, given be banned, given the narrow scope of the exemptions in the Bill. There is a justifiable fear that the narrow such material may be incorrectly regarded as “indirectly advocating” terrorism, which would inevitably scope of the lessen the availability of information to the public. exemptions in Moreover, the fact that the standard of proof in classification will be “on the balance of probabilities”, the Bill. There a much lower standard than the normal criminal requirement of beyond reasonable doubt, will is a justifiable make the proposed regime abhorrent. fear that such In dealing with the threat of terrorism it is important that the public is well informed on matters material may related to it. Research into the background of terrorism and terrorist groups can assist in safeguarding be incorrectly an open and liberal democracy. Similarly, there is a need to ensure that material that can aid research, add to our understanding of terrorism and assist in reasoned debate on the issues regarded as should not be arbitrarily restricted as a result of a Bill that contains definitions of “advocacy” that “indirectly are far too wide. advocating” Despite the Council objections, the legislation was enacted. terrorism, which would inevitably Media and terrorism lessen the The Press Council was represented at a meeting of the media and security personnel, convened by the availability of Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI). The intention was apparently to formulate ‘protocols’ information to for the conduct of the media in event of a terrorism event in Australia. It appeared that the consultation the public. with the media was initially intended to gain the co-operation of the media in restricting the flow of information to the public. Arising from that discussion ASPI issued a discussion paper that demonstrated that ASPI had listened to the comments made by the media at the consultation. The Council has now responded with comments to the ASPI draft. It notes that the media would have the primary responsibility for communicating important information to the public and the predominant source for that information will be government officials. As is already the case in other emergencies, the media would be keen to cooperate in informing the public The Council expressed concern that governments may seek to constrain media organisations through
6 Annual Report 2007-2008 Australian Press Council
the centralisation of information and by imposing restrictions on what could be published, either by Free speech issues way of ‘voluntary’ codes of conduct, protocols or by legislative mechanisms. Noting that the public Gov’t restrictions has a right to information on matters of public concern and to have the facts communicated to them in a timely, responsible fashion, the Press Council expressed the view that the best way to ensure that important information is disseminated to the public in a crisis situation is to establish relationships between media professionals and government officials and to provide media organisations with open and timely access to information so that they are not forced to rely on informal sources in order to establish the facts. It also noted that the codes of conduct already in place in the industry would be sufficient guides for editors making decisions on what material to publish in the aftermath of a terrorist incident. The Council encouraged ASPI to continue along the lines indicated by the draft discussion paper and looked forward to the development of cooperative mechanisms to ensure that the public is well- informed through the media in the event of any terrorist incident.
Sexualisation of children The Press Council made a submission to the Senate Standing Committee on Environment, It is Communications and the Arts’ Inquiry into The Sexualisation of Children in the Contemporary Media preferable to Environment. The submission’s Executive Summary read: address the •Images of children that appear in print publications are regulatedClassification by the Act issue of the and Regulations sexualisation •Australia’s print media represents children in a responsible manner of children by •Advertising which includes images of children or which is directed to children is subjectway to of self- regulation by the Advertising Standards Board and publishers are required to distinguish regulatory between advertising and editorial content. mechanisms •Images and editorial content in print publications are subject to the Press Council’s principles rather than to and guidelines. impose •It is preferable to address the issue of the sexualisation of children by way of self-regulatory censorship mechanisms rather than to impose censorship restrictions which have the potential to result in unintended restrictions on freedom of the press. restrictions The full submission has been posted to the Council’s website at: http://www.presscouncil.org.au/ which have pcsite/fop/fop_subs/kids.html the potential to result in unintended A complaints clearing house restrictions In its June report on Sexualisation of Children, a Senate committee recommended, among other on freedom of things, the development of a complaints clearing house to facilitate the lodging of complaints to the the press. appropriate regulatory or self-regulatory body. The Press Council took up this issue with the Advertising Standards Board (ASB) and Free TV, copying in the Australian Communications and Media Authority, the MEAA and Commercial Radio Australia, amongst other bodies. The Council wrote: In its report of 26 June, Sexualisation of children in the contemporary media, the Senate Environment, Communications and the Arts Committee recommended: … that the Advertising Standards Board and Free TV Australia consider establishing a media and advertising complaint clearing house whose functions would be restricted to: · receiving complaints and forwarding them to the appropriate body for consideration; · advising complainants that their complaint has been forwarded to a particular organisation; and · giving complainants direct contact details and an outline of the processes of the organisation the complaint had been forwarded to. In its report on broadcasting regulation, the committee made a number of recommendations and suggestions with regard to improving the operation of complaints systems, particularly: · that all broadcasters and ACMA should ensure that the homepage of the websites have a clearly marked ‘complaints’ icon; · that the complaints page be accessed only by one key-stoke or mouse click; and · that complaints should be received electronically and by email in addition to written or faxed complaints.
7 Australian Press Council Annual Report 2007-2008
Free speech issues I write to you on behalf of the Australian Press Council, which considered this recommendation at Gov’t restrictions its July meeting. FoI Have either of your bodies determined to initiate action along the lines recommended by the committee? It seemed to the Council that such a ‘clearing house’, if limited solely to the ASB and Free TV Australia, would not serve a useful purpose, as it would leave out a number of organisations that deal with complaints about ethical matters in the Australian press. While the ASB has carriage of complaints about advertising, news material in the various media are handled variously by the Press Council, ACMA and the MEAA. If such a clearing house were to be established, it would need to include those organisations, as well as representatives of the commercial television and radio broadcasters and the national broadcasters, who each have their own complaints process. The Council would appreciate your advice if you determine to take any action as it would like to be involved in such discussions. I am copying in the other relevant bodies, as well as the Minister and Chair of the committee so that they are aware of the action being taken. The primary Subsequently the Council has met with the Chief Executive Officer of the ASB, who is coordinating concern meetings with other interested bodies, to discuss the proposal and other relevant issues. It seems expressed by likely that discussions towards some form of ‘clearing house’ will continue. news editors in relation to the operation Freedom of Information of the During the years, there has been movement on FoI reform in several states and at the federal level. Information Just before the federal election was called, the then federal Attorney-General referred the issue of FoI Act is the reform to the Australian Law Reform Commission. After the then Prime Minister John Howard process by indicated that a more open policy was likely to emerge during the election campaign, the Council’s which access Chairman wrote an opinion piece for The Australian on this promise and the ALP’s promised reforms. to information The article was published on Thursday October 25 under the heading, Secrecy impedes informed is discourse. The in-coming government undertook to reform FoI law as one of its priorities. The ALRC administered. has on the books a series of recommendations from 1996, which were not taken up by the Coalition Editors have government but which the Press Council suggested could be the basis for meaningful reform of the emphasised law. The election of the ALP government led to a postponement of the ALRC inquiry and, eventually, that the to a situation where such an inquiry is unlikely. period The new Premiers in Victoria and Queensland also undertook to review FoI law and practice in their between the states. The Queensland government also initiated an inquiry into reform of FoI legislation. It was time when an headed by David Solomon, formerly the head of the Electoral and Administrative Reform Commission and a former contributing editor of The Courier-Mail. The Solomon inquiry sought input from the application is Council. Towards the end on 2007, the Northern Territory government announced a review of its FoI lodged and legislation. In Western Australia, the then ALP government replaced the independent FoI Commissioner when with a former member of staff of the Cabinet Office. The Press Council expressed its concern with a information is possible impact on the Commissioner’s ability to act as a reviewer of the actions of Ministers and received is far officials who refuse to grant FoI requests. too long. A further NT Review criticism which is often In January 2008, the Council sent a submission to the Northern Territory Department of Justice, on its made by five-year review of the Information Act 2002. In the submission the Council noted that the media’s editors is that attitude towards the Act after its first five years of operation is mixed: while the introduction of the legislation is seen as having been a positive step, there is a strong view that the access to government the fees information is not as open as it should be and that reform is necessary if the Act is to fulfil its aim of charged for making information available to the public and thereby promoting efficient and accountable access to government. information The primary concern expressed by news editors in relation to the operation of the Information Act is are frequently the process by which access to information is administered. Editors have emphasised that the period prohibitive. between the time when an application is lodged and when information is received is far too long. A further criticism which is often made by editors is that the fees charged for access to information are frequently prohibitive. When taken together, these two problems are usually sufficient to dissuade many media organisations from submitting FoI applications. While the appointment of an Information Commissioner was applauded, the Council noted that the
8 Annual Report 2007-2008 Australian Press Council
commissioner’s published statistics do not distinguish between applications of a personal nature and Free speech issues those concerned with government accountability. In order to assess the degree to which FoI is effective FoI in facilitating public scrutiny of government, it is important that statistics on applications be broken down according to the nature of the information sought and the category of the applicant. Such numbers would help ascertain the effectiveness of the Act. In addition to the problems with the procedure for applying for access to information, the Council expressed a number of concerns with the Information Act itself. In particular, the Council is of the view that the exemptions are too broad and need to be narrowed. This includes the section that gives the government the ability to refuse access to documents which have been considered by an executive body or which have been created for that purpose or the purpose of briefing Ministers in relation to matters to be considered by an executive body. When contemplating why this material should be kept secret, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that it is primarily to avoid embarrassment to Ministers or officials. Such embarrassment is not a persuasive reason, of itself, to justify secrecy. A further section of the Act provides broad scope to withhold material from public scrutiny on the The Council grounds that such material was brought into existence for the purpose of “deliberative processes”. In argued that, the view of the Press Council, if a government is provided with advice or recommendations and by default, all chooses not to follow that advice, it is a legitimate expectation on the part of the public that it is information entitled to see that advice and ask why the government chose to disregard it. In most instances a should be refusal to recognise the legitimacy of that entitlement amounts to a rejection of the principle of available accountability in government. In particular, the subsections that refer to “mischievous interpretation under FoI. of information”, and “confusion and unnecessary debate” refect an attitude that is contemptuous of Where the public and of democracy. officials seek The Council argued that, by default, all information should be available under FoI. Where officials to withhold seek to withhold information on the premise that it is part of a deliberative process, the onus should information be on the officials to demonstrate why the information should not be released. The legislation should on the list narrowly and specifically the instances when the default rule should not apply. Such instances might include: premise that it is part of a •that the information or advice was superseded by later, more accurate or detailed information or advice; deliberative process, the •that the advice was generated at a very early stage in the process, prior to the formulation of recommendations for Cabinet consideration; onus should •that the advice has been found to be unreliable or inaccurate; be on the officials to •that the advice, if released, would present a risk to public safety or security. demonstrate To ensure that such discretionary decisions are made in the spirit of accountable government, the why the Council proposed that a clause be inserted into the legislation that makes it an offence to withhold a information document in order to conceal incompetence, corruption, an untruth or a conflict of interest. should not be The Council also objected, in principle, to the use of conclusive certificates as a mechanism to by- released. The pass processes for the review of decisions to refuse access to government information. It expressed legislation the view that the availability of mechanism of conclusive certificates is antithetical to the principle of accountability in government and recommended that the relevant sections of the Act be repealed. should list narrowly and The full submission has been posted to the Council’s website (http://www.presscouncil.org.au/pcsite/ specifically fop/fop_subs/ntinfo.html). the instances when the Queensland review default rule In March 2008, the Council made a submission to the Independent Review of the Freedom of should not Information Act 1992 (Qld), the Executive Summary of which read: apply. Freedom of Information in Queensland is in need of significant revision. Amendment to Freedom of Information must address three main areas of concern: 1. The excessive delays in processing and reviewing applications must be dramatically reduced. 2. The exorbitant fees imposed upon applicants seeking non-personal information must be brought down to modest amounts. 3. The proportion of documents to which access is granted must be increased. In order to achieve this, the scope of exemptions must be narrowed; when making decisions as to
9 Australian Press Council Annual Report 2007-2008
Free speech issues whether or not to release material under FoI, officers must be required to take into account FoI the public interest in disclosing information for the purpose of facilitating accountability. The default position set down in the legislation should be a requirement that information must be released unless it meets very limited conditions that define disclosure as being “not in the public interest”. In addition, the government should make freely accessible via the internet a wide range of material which facilitates public scrutiny of government policy and conduct. The full submission has been posted to the Council’s website at: http://www.presscouncil.org.au/ pcsite/fop/fop_subs/foiqld.html A detailed report to the Queensland government on FoI reform was published in late June. An article by FoI expert Moira Paterson on the Solomon report is to be published in August issue of the Press Council News.
NSW review Later the same month, the Council wrote to the NSW Ombudsman seeking from him a formal review of the NSW Freedom of Information Act 1989. The Executive Summary of that submission read: The media have three areas of concern with regard to FoI: •The excessive cost involved in pursuing Freedom of Information applications •The lengthy delays often experienced in seeking material pursuant to Freedom of Information •The high proportion of refusals of access to material under Freedom of Information. In order to address these concerns, the Press Council seeks the following reforms: •Elimination of Ministerial certificates •Narrowing of the scope of exemptions •Disclosure as default position unless there is overwhelming public interest in confidentiality •Introduction of a clause making it a illegal to withhold information for improper purpose. •Change in the Freedom of Information fee structure to charging for documents received rather than processing time. •Refund of application fees where there is a lengthy delay. •Improved access to material via the Internet. •Publication of FoI statistics in collated form. The full submission has been posted to the Council’s website at: http://www.presscouncil.org.au/ pcsite/fop/fop_subs/foinsw.html The information The NSW Ombudsman has subsequently undertaken a formal review of NSW FoI law and practice. provision default clause Federal review should require In early May, the Council’s Chairman, Professor Ken McKinnon, and Executive Secretary, Jack that Herman, met with Senator John Faulkner to discuss with him his government’s pre-election promises documents to introduce changes to the laws and culture of FoI. Those undertakings included the abolition of are available conclusive certificates; the post of federal Information Commissioner will be established; and the for public establishment of open and accountable government. scrutiny The Council endorsed those objectives and argued that to achieve open government, the following unless there are necessary: is an over- •The requirement for open and accountable government should be explicit in the legislation riding public in sufficiently unequivocal terms in a main operative clause, expressing openness as the interest in default position. their •The information provision default clause should require that documents are available for confidentiality public scrutiny unless there is an over-riding public interest in their confidentiality •Safeguards are desirable in the legislation to prevent back-sliding from the general access position. After constructive discussions of the government’s intention to introduce legislation to change FoI laws in line with the government’s election commitments, the Senator agreed to meet with the Council and other interested bodies to discuss further changes to the law and culture of freedom of information at the federal level. 10 Annual Report 2007-2008 Australian Press Council
Subsequently, the Council’s Chairman and Executive Secretary met in July with Senator Faulkner’s Free speech issues staff, and a representative of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, in Sydney, to discuss in FoI detail proposed FoI changes. Those discussions were informed by the report to the Queensland Constitutional Law government by David Solomon’s Independent Review. The Chairman detailed actions the government could take administratively, similar to those taken by Attorney-General Janet Reno in the US in 1993, to change the culture of FoI within the public service, and outlined amendments to the legislation to achieve the Council’s objective of making the law workable for journalists. Subsequent to the meeting Senator Faulkner announced that conclusive certificates were to be abolished and that he would consult on other proposed changes to FoI legislation with a view to introducing such changes in 2009. it is essential that the office of Information Western Australia Commissioner On November 5, the Council wrote to the WA Attorney-General, saying: be kept The Council has noted reports on proposed changes in WA regarding Freedom of Information and completely a proposed privacy law. independent The Council is concerned that any such changes should not adversely impact on the ability of the of the press properly to report matters of public interest. executive and Implementation of the proposal to bypass the office of Information Commissioner and refer FoI of the public appeals to a tribunal would be a backward step. Independent Information Commissioners are the best protection for the integrity of the FoI process. A Queensland Legislative Committee reached service. This a similar conclusion a few years ago, recommending the establishment of such a position in that is axiomatic, state and the ALRC in 1996 also recommended such a position. Moreover, your federal Labor since it is the colleagues, should they win government, have pledged to go in that direction. commissioner’s In the light of the experience of journalists who have sought to use freedom of information laws to role to act as access material on matters of public concern, it is essential that the office of Information the body that Commissioner be kept completely independent of the executive and of the public service. This is oversees the axiomatic, since it is the commissioner’s role to act as the body that oversees the compliance of compliance of Ministers and officials with the FoI regime. The sidelining of the independent commissioner and her replacement, even in an acting capacity, by an official with strong links to the bureaucracy Ministers and does not make it look like the WA government is taking freedom of information seriously. John officials with Lightowers was one of the representatives of the WA government at the Press Council hearing of the FoI the complaint brought by the Department of Premier and Cabinet against The West Australian. regime. The There has to be doubts about his independence, given his role in that matter. sidelining of On the question of the putative Privacy Bill the Council would seek to consult with you on its the contents. The press is currently exempt from the ambit of the federal Privacy Act when engaged in independent journalism, provided there is a public commitment to a set of privacy standards, such as those administered by the Press Council. There may need to be an analogous provision in the WA commissioner legislation to ensure that it will not be in conflict with the federal Act, and there also needs to be a and her strong public interest defence ensuring that privacy legislation is not used as a way of stopping the replacement, press reporting on legitimate matters of public concern. even in an In view of your excellent record of leadership in legal reform, the Council has been looking to you acting to lead your interstate and federal colleagues in strengthening Freedom of Information law and capacity, by practice. That can only happen if the present proposals are replaced by actions similar to recently an official announced as federal Labor Party policy. The Executive Secretary of the Council, Jack Herman, can be made available for any desired assistance. with strong links to the bureaucracy Constitutional Law does not Unlike in the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, and in many other democratic make it look countries, there is no national Bill of Rights in Australia nor any constitutional guarantee of freedoms like the WA in the federal or state constitutions or in any over-riding law. The Australian Capital Territory enacted government is the nation’s first Bill of Rights in the form of the Human Rights Act 2004. In 2006, Victoria passed taking into law the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Bill. There has still been no equivalent freedom of action by other states or territories, nor by the federal government. information The Council, which strongly supports the enactment of a Bill of Rights either into the Constitution, seriously. or failing that into federal law, decided that, in the period leading up to the 2007 federal election, it would seek the advice of the major parties as to whether they would commit to the introduction of such legislation. Neither party made a commitment to a Bill of Rights.
11 Australian Press Council Annual Report 2007-2008
Free speech issues Defamation Defamation Privacy The Council kept an eye on developments in this area. The first cases before the courts under the revised and harmonised defamation laws have been finalised. Judy Davis won her case against Nationwide News and was awarded substantial damages. Mercedes Corby won a case against Today Tonight, which settled before the hearing on damages. In Brett Holmes v Andrew Fraser, damages were awarded against a state MP in a NSW case heard before a judge alone. Generally, the harmonised laws appear to be working well.
Privacy In Australia, there is a federal Privacy Law, which largely deals with protection of the confidentiality of information on individuals held by government and by the private sector. There are also a myriad of federal, state and territory laws that regulate privacy protection, in areas such as telecommunications, surveillance, listening devices, health records, data matching, trespass, matters affecting children, adoption, sexual offences, juries, prisoners, security, and family law. But there is no common law or statutory cause of action for breach of privacy. Throughout the year there were judicial, legal and The Press political activity in the area of privacy, apparently moving towards the development of such an action. Council Three separate Law Reform Commissions (Australia, NSW and Victoria) are conducting inquiries regards a into aspects of privacy and two have suggested that they have a recommendation for a cause of action statutory for breach of privacy. cause of action for breach of ALRC inquiry privacy as In December 2007, the Council has responded to the Australian Law Reform Commission’s Discussion unnecessary Paper 72, Review of Australian Privacy Law. The Executive Summary of the submission read: and, in the The Australian Press Council urges the Australian Law Reform Commission to recommend the absence of a introduction of a statutory protection for freedom of speech in order to ensure that increases in privacy protection do not erode freedom of speech in Australia. guarantee of free speech, The Press Council regards a statutory cause of action for breach of privacy as unnecessary and, in the absence of a guarantee of free speech, a potential threat to the freedom of the press to a potential report, and comment, on matters of public interest and concern. If, despite the undesirability of so threat to the doing, a recommendation for introducing a statutory cause of action is included in the final ALRC freedom of report the Press Council urges explicit recognition that the proposed scope of the cause of action the press to be precise and limited, and that the proposed defences appropriately expanded. The discussion report, and paper proposed undesirable scope for judicial activism and personal opinion. comment, on The Press Council emphasises the importance of the media exemption in the Privacy Act in ensuring matters of the freedom of the Australian media to perform their role of keeping the public informed on matters of public interest and concern. For this reason, there should be no narrowing of the exemption. public Additionally, the Press Council argues that a definition of journalism in the Act is unnecessary and interest and the definition proposed is so narrow as to exclude a good deal of modern journalistic activity. concern The full submission has been posted to the Council’s website (http://www.presscouncil.org.au/pcsite/ fop/fop_subs/alrc_dp72.html). A major section of the submission deals with the commission’s attempts to define “journalism” within the Act. The commission notes in its paper that the Act should continue to exempt from its remit media organisations that publicly subscribe to a set of privacy standards when acting in the course of journalism. It then seeks severely to curtail that exemption by trying to define ‘journalism’ to fit its own preconceptions of what journalism is, or should be. The commission’s final report, Australian Privacy Law and Practice, dated May 2008, was released in August 2008, and will be discussed in next year’s report.
NSW LRC inquiry In September 2007, the Council responded to the New South Wales Law Reform Commission’s Consultation Paper, Invasion of Privacy, with a detailed submission. The Executive Summary of the submission read: The NSW Law Reform Commission has been asked to look at three particular matters in respect
12 Annual Report 2007-2008 Australian Press Council
to privacy. Its consultation paper concentrates on one of those matters, the question of a putative Free speech issues statutory cause of action in privacy, while largely neglecting the other two matters: Privacy •the question of national consistency in any privacy regime; and Sources •how best to harmonise the existing privacy regime in NSW. The Australian Press Council’s response to the consultation paper argues that there is no persuasive case for a statutory cause of action, and suggests that the question can only be properly addressed within the context of the other two specific terms of reference. The Council The full submission is available on the Council’s website (http://www.presscouncil.org.au/pcsite/ holds the fop/fop_subs/nsw_priv_07.html) view that In July 2008, the commission released its Consultation Paper 3 (2008) - Privacy legislation in New searches and South Wales, which will be discussed in next year’s report. seizures of material held by journalists Guardianship is only In last year’s report, there was reference to a submission to the Queensland Law Reform Commission justified in on guardianship issues. The commission recommended changes to the way in which matters before extreme the Guardianship Tribunal will be handled. In line with the Council’s submission, it has recommended circumstances: opening up the process more to public scrutiny. The Council was of the view that, if the government followed through on these recommendations, there should be action to see that other Queensland • where there tribunals were also opened up. is probable cause to believe the WA proposal journalist has In its November 5 letter, above under Freedom of Information, the Council also sought to consult committed with the government on any putative privacy legislation. See the letter on page 11 for details. the criminal offence ...; Protection of confidential sources • where there The Council has been lobbying the state, territory and federal Attorneys-General to ensure that there is reason to is a more workable protection for journalists who want to protect their confidential sources. believe immediate seizure is Crime and Corruption Commission necessary to The Council discussed the activities the WA CCC, which has been conducting secret hearings in prevent the which journalists are being interrogated with the aim of identifying the sources of leaks. It was noted death of, or that journalists subject to these hearings are threatened with prosecution and hefty fines if they disclose serious bodily to anybody (including their employer) the fact of their interrogation. As a result of these discussions injury ...; or it was agreed that an opinion piece should be submitted over the name of the Chairman for publication in The West Australian. That article was published on 15 December 2007, under the headline, CCC • where the must end Star Chamber tactics. search or seizure relates only Raid on Sunday Times to documents In May 2008, the Council wrote to the WA Premier Alan Carpenter to express its condemnation of pertaining to the police raid on the offices on of the Sunday Times. a serious The Council holds the view that searches and seizures of material held by journalists is only crime ... justified in extreme circumstances: •where there is probable cause to believe the journalist has committed the criminal offence (and not merely a breach of “official secrecy” provisions) to which the materials relate; •where there is reason to believe immediate seizure is necessary to prevent the death of, or serious bodily injury to, a human being; or •where the search or seizure relates only to documents pertaining to a serious crime, but not to the journalist’s own notes and other “work product materials”, and the journalist refuses to produce documents under a court order or there is reason to believe they will be destroyed or hidden if a subpoena is issued. The raid on the Sunday Times to seek material related to a story published in February - a story that may have embarrassed a senior Minister of the government but was otherwise unrelated to
13 Australian Press Council Annual Report 2007-2008
Free speech issues any serious breach of the law - does not meet any of these criteria. In fact, it would appear that the Sources only justification for the raid was a clumsy attempt to try and identify the person who may have Whistleblowers leaked the story to the Sunday Times journalist. As a former journalist the Premier should have Suppression been well aware of the importance of leaked material in exposing crime, corruption and incompetence in both the public sector and the private sector. Heavy-handed attempts by governments, and their operatives, to seek to identify and intimidate whistle-blowers say much about the government making such an attempt. In any case, it would seem very late in the piece for such a raid to take place, many months after the initial story was written. While the use of such intimidatory force may appeal to some elements in the government, or in the bureaucracy, a raid at the end of April concerning an article written in February seems more Keystone Kops than CSI. The Council is aware that, under the previous federal government, the AFP spent $2 million and over 2,100 man-hours in a five-year period trying to track down public interest whistle-blowers in the federal public service. Is a state ALP government going to copy their example? The use of first the CCC and now the police Fraud Squad in attempts to stifle whistle-blowers does The WA not contribute towards the free and responsible discussion of matters of public interest and concern government in the press. The WA government has in the recent past sought the assistance of the Council in has in the ensuring that reporting about the government is responsible. The Council now seeks the recent past government’s assistance in seeking to ensure that the press in Western Australia is free from unnecessary intimidation in its attempts freely to report matters of public concern. sought the assistance of the Council in Public-interest Whistleblowing ensuring that There are separate inquiries in the Australian and NSW jurisdictions on changes to whistleblower reporting legislation. The Council agreed that it should make submissions seeking protection for whistleblowers about the to make disclosures to the media. Policy Officer Inez Ryan was commissioned by the Gazette of Law government is and Journalism to write an article on the inquiries and the options for change. That article was responsible. subsequently posted to the Gazette’s website. In August 2008, the Council submissions to the Australian The Council House of Representatives Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs and to the NSW now seeks Parliamentary Committee on the Independent Commission Against Corruption on their separate the references. These will be reported in next year’s report. government’s assistance in seeking to Judicial Suppression ensure that In Annual Report 30, the Council noted the rejection by the Conference of Chief Justices of its the press in proposal for a uniform method of reporting suppression orders. Nonetheless, the Council continues Western to note the use of suppression orders by judges in most jurisdictions. News Limited now has nearly Australia is 1000 separate matters on its database of suppression orders free from In mid-2007, the federal Attorney-Generals’ department sought advice from the Council whether unnecessary there was inadvertent non-compliance with suppression orders by the media due to a lack of knowledge intimidation in of their existence. The department was investigating the possibility of a national register of suppression its attempts orders, something very close to the Council’s original proposal to the chief justices. It asked for freely to information on the following: report 1. Is there a problem in the media of inadvertent non-compliance with suppression orders due to matters of lack of knowledge about their existence and duration? public 2. Does the Press Council have any views on the establishment of a national register of concern. suppression orders to aid compliance? In response the Council wrote, in early September: Thank you for the email. There has been a problem with the inadvertent publication of suppressed material, particularly in interstate newspapers that may sell a few copies in the jurisdiction in which the suppression order was issued. One real problem is that there is no uniformity in the way in which suppression orders are issued in the various jurisdictions, and no uniformity in the way in which cancellation or variation of suppression orders are notified. The Council’s view has been that the best system would be the development of a uniform national system, so that each state and territory Supreme Court, and the Federal Court, would be responsible for ensuring that all suppression orders from the various levels of courts and tribunals in its jurisdiction were made known to the media. A national register is a possible method by which this might be
14 Annual Report 2007-2008 Australian Press Council
achieved. Free speech issues The News Limited national database of suppression orders now contains 887 extant orders (many Suppression of which may have been withdrawn without adequate notification) of which 221 have been added Court access since 1 January 2007. The database relies on (1) the local News Limited staff member being made aware of the order - this works best in Victoria and NSW where court liaison officers fax or email new orders to those journalists registered to receive them - and (2) the local News Limited staff member notifying the head office database manager of the order. So there continue to be a large number of suppression orders issued and this continues to be a problem for media operating In the outside the jurisdiction on which they are issued. Council’s ... view a In the Council’s view a password-moderated website, either national or drawing together the input password- from each jurisdiction, summarising the extant orders, notifying variations to orders, and updating moderated information when orders are withdrawn, would be the best way of ensuring media compliance with website, suppression orders. either The Council also forwarded its considered view on suppression orders and copies of draft templates national or for the notification of orders in any uniform scheme. drawing The department has at the time of writing this report made no recommendation public. together the input from Access to courts and court documents each jurisdiction, Naming and shaming summarising In December 2007, the Council has made a submission to the NSW Legislative Council Standing the extant Committee Law and Justice Inquiry into the prohibition on the publication of names of children orders, involved in criminal proceedings. The Executive Summary of the submission read: notifying The Australian Press Council is of the view that legislation that prohibits the publication of the variations to names of minors involved in criminal proceedings should be revised. The revised legislation should orders, and distinguish between children, being minors under the age of sixteen, and young adults, being aged between sixteen and eighteen years of age. Where the relevant individual is sixteen or over, updating there should be a presumption in favour of publication. In such instances the party seeking orders information prohibiting publication would bear the onus of persuading the court that suppression would be in when orders the public interest. Where the relevant individual is fifteen or under, there should be a presumption are in favour of confidentiality, whereby the party seeking publication or disclosure should bear the withdrawn, onus of establishing the public interest in doing so. The Press Council’s submission is that there would be the should be a presumption in favour of naming people over the age of 16 who have been convicted of offences, and that restrictions on naming children as witnesses can be removed in some best way of circumstances. ensuring The full submission has been posted to the Council’s website (http://www.presscouncil.org.au/pcsite/ media fop/fop_subs/minornames.html). compliance The Council’s Executive Secretary, Jack Herman, appeared before the committee at a public hearing with in late February to discuss the Council’s submission. suppression orders. Subsequently, the Council wrote to the NSW Attorney-General to express its concerns with the recommendations in the report of the Legislative Council Standing Committee on Law and Justice: The prohibition on publication of names of children involved in criminal proceedings. !In the Council’s view many of the recommendations, particularly recommendations one and four, are unlikely to improve the situation and may make it worse. It therefore suggests that the government take no action to implement either recommendation one or recommendation four. Additionally the Council is concerned that no recommendation has been made to ameliorate the negative impact on reporting of matters of public interest and concern of the 2004 and 2007 amendments to the Children (Criminal Proceedings) Act. In the Council’s view, the government should immediately amend the Act to return it to the position that existed before the 2004 and 2007 amendments. The Press Council has no major concerns with the philosophy underlying the committee’s report. It agrees that there is a greater impact on juvenile offenders who are named as a result of their involvement in criminal proceedings and that the current regime of restricting such information unless a judicial officer specifically releases it is a reasonable one. Indeed, before the 2004 amendments were introduced to the Act, the press expressed no reservations about the operations of the provisions restricting the naming of juvenile offenders.
15 Australian Press Council Annual Report 2007-2008
Free speech issues It is the 2004 amendments, and the 2007 changes to them, that have caused difficulties, and this Court access is a problem not addressed adequately by the committee in its report. The 2004 amendments effectively prohibit the identification of deceased child victims in order to minimise the trauma to the family of the deceased, especially surviving child siblings. Problems with the amendments, which were passed without adequate consultation with the media, led to the 2007 changes. These allow for the senior available next of kin (SANoK) to give permission for the deceased child to be The media named. submissions... The media submissions, in writing and orally, to the committee pointed out some of the anomalies in these changes. For instance, until a charge is laid, the press can report matters, including the pointed out name of the deceased child. A number of these cases have involved matters of significant public some of the policy, especially related to the performance of the Department of Community Services. The effect anomalies in of the amendments is that the press can report these matters, with names, up to the time that these charges are made, and then has to cease reporting them, unless permission is obtained from the changes. For SANoK. The press is far less likely to report when no names can be used. Reports that omit instance, until names are likely to have less impact. Thus, matters of public interest and concern are kept away from the arena of public debate, to the detriment of proper public scrutiny. a charge is laid, the press But the anomalies inherent in the 2004 and 2007 amendments go further. The ostensible reason for non-publication of the names of deceased children is protection of their surviving siblings. No can report such consideration is given when the victim (or alleged perpetrator) is an adult, yet the impact on matters, surviving siblings or children is just as great. No consideration is given in the Act for those deceased including the children who have no surviving siblings. In such cases, what is the public policy benefit in maintaining name of the the prohibition? In cases where names are used before a charge is laid, for example, in a police deceased announcement of the identity of a person they are seeking to assist them with their inquiries, the public may never be made aware of the fact that someone has been apprehended and charged child. A because of the effect of the 2004 amendments. number of The SANoK mechanism does not address the concerns with the 2004 amendments, and creates these cases some problems of its own. In cases where one or both of the parents of the deceased child is have involved charged with the crime, or is already incarcerated, there may be no SANoK available, so the matters of prohibition favours only the person charged with the crime, surely a contradiction of the rationale significant for the openness of the adult courts. In cases where there may be a SANoK who may not be a public policy, member of the immediate nuclear family of the deceased child, attempts by the media to discover the identity of such a person, and to seek their permission as per the Act, may involve a greater especially invasion into the privacy of grief than would have occurred if the prohibition did not exist. related to the The committee may have considered these anomalies but its recommendations indicate that it did performance not fully understand them. When it was pointed out to the committee that NSW is out of step not of the [DoCS]. only with comparable overseas justice systems, and with every other state and territory jurisdiction in Australia, the committee’s response was not to consider that NSW might have got it wrong, but to assert that NSW alone has got it right. The committee recommends that the government seek to bring all the other states and territories into line with NSW, rather than bring NSW in line with the rest. An example of the sort of reporting that would be prohibited in NSW is in The Australian of 14 May. In the notorious case of a toddler dumped in a South Australian mineshaft, allegedly by his father, a matter that reflects on a significant public policy area, the application of mental health orders, the newspaper was able to report the father’s court appearance without the necessity of invading the privacy of the toddler’s mother in order to do so. The committee’s other response to the anomalies created by the fact that matters of public interest may be reported prior to charges being laid, and then suddenly not, if no SANoK can be found to give permission, is to suggest that the prohibition be extended backwards to a time before charges are laid. Under the committee’s proposals the media will be asked to apply a test of ‘reasonable likelihood’. If it is reasonably likely that a charge will be laid, then reporting of the name of the alleged offender (or of a deceased child) should not be used. There might be some arguments to support the idea with respect to the naming of those arrested but not yet charged, but thought needs to be given to the impact such an extended prohibition would have on the investigation of the case, in particular with the publication of material released by the police aimed at seeking public assistance in finding a possible offender. In cases where the matter involves the naming of deceased children, rather than the naming of a possible juvenile offender, the argument is even less persuasive. In cases involving significant public policy questions, including those involving the Department of Community Services, the prohibition on the use of names where there is a reasonable likelihood of charges being laid at some future point would impede the investigation of the matter and would impede public debate on matters of clear public interest. One final issue that the committee does not adequately address: the timing of any proceedings to
16 Annual Report 2007-2008 Australian Press Council
seek the exercise of the judicial discretion to release the names of juvenile offenders. At the present Free speech issues time, the Act provides that such discretion can only be made at the time of sentencing. The application Court access by Herald Publications for the naming of the K brothers, none of whom can be named because two of them were juveniles at the time of their crimes, indicates the problem. In this matter there was a In many of series of related trials. Some of the brothers were sentenced in adult courts and others in children’s the cases courts. By the time all the actions had been finalised, and the Herald sought the exercise of the involving judicial discretion, so that both the adult and juvenile offenders could be named, it was ruled to be too late because it was no longer at the time of sentencing. In many of the cases involving serious serious crimes where the release of names might be thought appropriate, there will be a similar complexity crimes where of matters to be considered by the judiciary. Some thought might be given to an amendment that the release of would allow for an application for the exercise of the judicial discretion at a time when all matters names might have been completed. be thought An example of a UK case, where the release of the name of the deceased, comments by her appropriate, family and the identification of the juvenile accused were important aspects of a story about an there will be obvious matter of public interest, juvenile binge dinking and concomitant violence, can be found at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-547708/The-haunting-picture-Sophie-Lancaster-beaten- a similar death-Goth.html. In this case the release of names was at the time of conviction, not sentencing, complexity ... and it is a case that may not have been reported in NSW, to the detriment of the public interest, Some thought particularly had the victim herself been a juvenile. might be given to an amendment Access to court documents that would The Council considered developments in the UK in the relationship between the media and the allow for an courts and looked to use the UK example as a model for lobbying the government and the judiciary application ... for greater court access in Australia. at a time Editor member Gary Evans corresponded with UK lawyer John Battle, on the recent changes in the when all UK courts. Journalist member Prue Innes contacted court officials in the UK to get their input on the matters have impact of the changes. Those members, together with Executive Secretary, Jack Herman, put together been a proposal for the Council, which resulted in a letter to the Directors of Public Prosecutions in the various Australian jurisdictions, urging the adoption of a protocol based on the UK practice aiming to completed. facilitate media access to material tendered in open court. The letter followed changes in the NSW court procedures on access to documents, which has freed up access somewhat in that state. The letter read: Largely as a result of the efforts of the UK Crown Prosecution Service, a Protocol has been introduced into the courts of England and Wales that has greatly benefited the fair and accurate The general reporting of court proceeding and made courts more open to the public through media exposure. underlining The Crown Prosecution Service introduced the Protocol after consultation with the police and with principle ... is a panel of media representatives. that, if On behalf of the Australian Press Council, the self-regulatory body of the Australian print media, material has comprised of representatives of publishers, journalists and the public, I bring this Protocol to your been shown in attention. It is an essential aspect of the Council’s remit to make representations that would ensure court, it the traditional freedom of the press to report fairly and responsibly on matters of public interest should be and concern. available for In the light of this, the Council is seeking the cooperation of federal, state and territory DPPs to broadcast and have a similar Protocol introduced, on a uniform basis across all jurisdictions, into the Australian court processes. publication to The general underlining principle as outlined in the Protocol adopted in 2005 is that if material has the general been shown in court it should be available for broadcast and publication to the general public as public as quickly as practicable, usually the same day on which it is adduced in court. quickly as There are two categories of material - practicable, What normally will be disclosed: usually the same day on · Police videos of the crime scene or property seized, transcripts of interviews read out in court, videos or photographs showing reconstruction of the crime and CCTV footage of the defendant. which it is What may be disclosed: adduced in court · CCTV footage or photographs of the defendant and victim or the victim alone may be released after consultation with victims and witnesses. Crown prosecutors will consult witnesses and victims before disclosure of sensitive footage.
17 Australian Press Council Annual Report 2007-2008
Free speech issues Under the operation of this Protocol, in most courts, material is now released on the day it is shown Court access in court, if requested. There are appeal procedures in place that involve a reference to the Crown Prosecutor’s Head of Strategic Communications for determination on the release of contested material. While the Protocol seems to advantage television news, many non-video exhibits are presented in court that would be of use to newspapers. Video would also be available to on-line sites of media organisations, whether they are primarily print of electronic media. In the UK the Protocol has led to greater coverage of the courts, and is seen to have made court reports more accurate and comprehensive. On television and on-line, news reports are visually led. The most welcome attribute has been that greater accuracy is obtained in reporting, as journalists do not have to rely on muffled recordings that are played in court. They are given transcripts of what is said. The Council is aware of the attitude of openness to court reporting espoused by Prosecutors in Australian jurisdictions and would welcome the opportunity to discuss the introduction of a model similar to that operating in England and Wales here in Australia. A complementary approach, raised at the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General in July, and reflected in the Report on Access to Court Information issued by the NSW Attorney-General’s Department, is to create a public (and media) right of access to court documents in both civil and criminal proceedings. Briefly summarised, this would include transcript of evidence in open court proceedings, statements and affidavits admitted into evidence, and police fact sheets. There would also be a category of restricted access including matters that had been struck out, medical and psychiatric reports, and information the subject of a non-publication or suppression order. The Only in the Press Council also welcomes this proposal as creating clarity and consistency, and removing most extreme barriers that now exist as a result of the exercise of arbitrary discretion when the media must seek circumstances permission for access. should courts The Council would welcome the opportunity for preliminary discussions with you or your be closed. representative about how a system similar to that operating in Britain might be introduced across The public Australian jurisdictions. These discussions could initially be of a preliminary nature, bearing in mind the various attitudes that might pertain to individual administrations. interest is the standard by Perhaps you could suggest a suitable person to liaise with so that talks could commence to achieve our mutual goal of more open, fair and free reporting of court proceedings. which matters investigated Commissioner Keelty speaks out and reported A speech given by Federal Police Commissioner, Mick Keelty, to the Sydney Institute argued there by the media should be a blackout on reporting of trials involving terrorism suspects “until the full gamut of judicial should be processes has been exhausted”. In part, his argument was based on a misinterpretation of the current judged. state of the law on reporting trials in the UK, as he argued that there was a ban on such reporting. The Delaying the Council again asked its Chairman to write an op/ed piece commenting on Commissioner Keelty’s reporting of views with respect to the role of the media in reporting courts in terrorism matters. This article was terrorism published in the Weekend Australian of 2-3 February under the headline, No Need to Muzzle Media. trials as a Professor McKinnon said in part: matter of Our freedoms must not be destroyed in the name of defending freedom. We have open courts so course would that citizens may be assured by attendance or media reports that their freedoms are being preserved. be entirely Only in the most extreme circumstances should courts be closed. The public interest is the standard against the by which matters investigated and reported by the media should be judged. Delaying the reporting of terrorism trials as a matter of course would be entirely against the public interest. public interest. The ... Commissioner’s assertion that in the UK a media blackout on the reporting of such proceedings from the time a person is charged with the crime until “after the case is disposed of, abandoned, discontinued or withdrawn” would surprise the judicial officers, lawyers, defendants and press who were present at the trial of those accused of the bombings in London on 21 July 2005. The trial was widely covered in the media and the daily reporting of the trial from a summary of week one posted on Friday 19 January 2007 through the verdict on 9 July 2007 can still be accessed on the BBC website.
18 Annual Report 2007-2008 Australian Press Council
Contempt by Publication Free speech issues Contempt In a case in Western Australia, Paul Armstrong, the editor of The West Australian, had been charged Sports with contempt after the publication of a letter to the editor. He was exonerated and judgment now stands as an incontrovertible declaration of the right of the press to publish material critical of judicial processes and, moreover, of the public benefit in the exercise of that right. The letter appeared in The West Australian on 11 December 2006, while the relevant trial was in its closing stages. On the same day the trial judge discharged the jury on the grounds that the letter had caused such a significant degree of prejudice to the accused that the prejudice could not be cured by any directions to the jury. In finding that The West Australian’s publication of the letter had not prejudiced the administration of ... every justice, WA Chief Justice Wayne Martin made a definitive statement of the importance of the public member of right to criticise judicial processes: our society The efficient administration of justice depends heavily upon public confidence in the fairness and must be free integrity of the processes employed. Public confidence in the integrity of the judicial process requires to express his that conduct which, as a matter of practical reality, has a real or clear and definite tendency to or her view in cause jurors to take extraneous matters into account when considering their verdict, be constrained relation to the and where necessary, punished. However, public confidence in the administration of justice also adequacy and depends upon the freedom of the printed and electronic media to provide the public with full and complete information as to legal proceedings. It also depends upon full and open public debate propriety of about events which occur in the courts. Subject to the limited constraint imposed by the law of the systems contempt to which I have referred, every member of our society must be free to express his or her and view in relation to the adequacy and propriety of the systems and processes used in the processes administration of justice. It is the function of the courts to protect the freedom of that debate, used in the irrespective of the stridency of the criticisms that may be directed to the courts in its course. Public administration confidence in the courts and in the administration of justice requires nothing less. of justice. It Justices Wheeler and Miller joined with Martin in dismissing the motion for contempt on the basis is the that the jurors would have been capable of reading the letter without being consequently prejudiced function of against the accused. However, Miller JA expressed a degree of caution, commenting that it was ‘unwise’ to publish the letter during the final days of the trial, the publisher having been aware that the courts to the letter related to a trial in progress at the time of publication. protect the freedom of However, this view was rejected by the Chief Justice who responded with an unequivocal expression of support for the press’s right to publish without interference from the judiciary: that debate, irrespective Reporting of, and commentary upon, legal proceedings serves a vital public interest, by providing of the information to the public about what is occurring in our courts. Such publications should only be constrained when it is established, beyond reasonable doubt, that they have the proscribed effect stridency of upon the administration of justice to which I have referred. That is why, with respect, I do not share the criticisms the view expressed by Miller JA that it is highly undesirable for a newspaper to publish letters to that may be the editor which contain material relating to a criminal trial which is being conducted at the same directed to time. In my respectful opinion, it is no part of this Court’s function to advise editors of newspapers the courts in what is desirable or wise. its course. The press, notwithstanding these comments, will always have a moral responsibility to be mindful of the impact of published material on the course of legal proceedings. However, Chief Justice Martin’s judgment, in particular, stands as a significant recognition of the validity of the media’s role in scrutinising the legal system and of the right of the media to publish material critical of the judiciary.
Sports accreditation As a part of the News Media Coalition, the Council took part in representations to the organisers of the 2007 Rugby world cup and to Cricket Australia about accreditation for journalists to the Australia/ Sri Lanka Cricket test series. The coalition was also dealing more generally with various sporting bodies on the question of issues relating to rights to reproduce sports images. These negotiations are on-going. In Australia, a particular issue arose from the decision o the Australian Football League not to accredit photographers from Australian Associated Press. In 2007 the Australian Press Council had correspondence with the AFL over its media policy. The Council expressed concern at the accreditation policy employed by the AFL that saw it exclude
19 Australian Press Council Annual Report 2007-2008
Free speech issues photographers from overseas news agencies from its list of accredited journalists. In response to the Sports Council’s concerns with what looked like an attempt by the AFL to commercialise the reporting of news, the AFL said, inter alia: To assist rural newspapers who do not have the resources to provide their own photojournalists, the AFL accredits 12 AAP photographers. The photos provided by AAP are free of charge to rural newspapers, provided they are used for editorial purposes and are not for resale. In April 2008, the Council wrote again to the AFL expressing surprise that, this year, it has decided not to accredit AAP photographers. In the light of the league’s decision also to accredit photo-journalists from other publishers only on the basis of a continuance of their current arrangements for syndication of images, thereby not allowing for the supply of images to rural and regional publishers that previously relied on AAP, what conclusion can the Press Council come to other than that the AFL is seeking to commercialise the reporting of the game by making the publications that previously relied on AAP use AFL Photos for any pictorial coverage of the game. Major sporting events are undoubtedly legitimate news. Actions by sporting bodies that threaten the ability of the press freely to report news are inimical to the standards of press freedom to which Australian society subscribes. Last year the AFL justified the exclusion of overseas agencies by referring to the accreditation of AAP. This year it has disaccredited AAP. The Council asks, is there any reason to believe that the AFL will not go further in its attempts to control the legitimate reporting of public events? Which journalists or photojournalists will it next exclude? The Press Council is seeking the advice of the AFL as to whether there is any good reason for the exclusion of AAP photographers, and thus for the deprivation of its rural and regional clients of an independent source for news images from AFL games. The Council In early June, Dr Colin McLeod, the General Manager, Marketing, Communications & Public Affairs can draw no of the AFL responded to the Council, arguing that “the AFL offered to accredit AAP photographers conclusion on identical terms to previous years, including the provision of photos to rural newspapers on a free other than of charge basis. However, AAP chose not to accept accreditation on this basis. The AFL would have that the AFL preferred that AAP continue the existing arrangements and to thereby ensure continuity of the supply is seeking to of images to rural newspapers. However, the decision ultimately rests with AAP.” limit access The Council passed this letter along to AAP for its advice. AAP immediately approached the AFL to of outside take up the implied offer of accreditation in the AFL’s letter. When this proved fruitless, AAP editor photographers in chief Tony Gillies wrote to the AFL, noting that its letter to the Council, “contains a number of to events that incorrect and misleading assertions about AAP’s treatment ...” He added: are clearly Firstly, the Letter states that the AFL offered to accredit AAP photographers “on identical terms to news events. previous years, including the provision of photos to rural newspapers on a free of charge basis”. It is seeking This statement is incorrect. bit-by-bit to ... AAP was advised that the only way it could supply its subscribers ... with photographs of AFL limit news matches was to purchase images that had been captured by the AFL (through GSP) for a fee. In implementing these arrangements, the AFL denied AAP the ability to undertake impartial coverage to photographic news coverage of AFL matches. ... those images AAP photographers have been accredited with the AFL for news and photographic coverage since available 2003 ... However this arrangement changed with the most recent terms and conditions of through its accreditation which did not include rights for AAP to capture images of AFL matches. In light of own affiliated this, it is implausible to assert that the “AFL would have preferred that AAP continue the existing photography arrangements and to thereby ensure continuity of the supply of images to rural newspapers “. ... it outlet. is unfortunately entirely true to say that the AFL has “decided not to accredit AAP photographers” and that the AFL have “disaccredited AAP”. Even recently, AAP again approached the AFL on the basis of the representations contained in the Letter [to the Press Council] and requested that it be accredited on the basis of the conditions that have applied in previous years ... This request was again denied. As the national news wire agency, AAP has a fundamental mandate to preserve and protect its editorial integrity. ... AAP was not granted the photographic accreditation that it sought and it was not able to accept the AFL’s proposed “alternative” (namely that AAP use AFL images sourced from GSP) as that alternative runs entirely against the principle of freedom of the press. The Council also wrote again to the AFL: ... The agency again sought to have its photographers accredited based on the offer implied in your 6 June letter. The AFL has again refused the agency accreditation. 20 Annual Report 2007-2008 Australian Press Council
The Council can draw no conclusion other than that the AFL is seeking to limit access of outside Free speech issues photographers to events that are clearly news events. It is seeking bit-by-bit to limit news coverage Sports to those images available through its own affiliated photography outlet. Fiji Timor Leste When the Council queried the disaccreditation of overseas news agency in 2007, it was assured that AAP would continue to be accredited, enabling the smaller and independent regional press to continue to have access to an independent source of news photographs. In 2008, the AFL apparently changes its mind about access of independent photographers. It seeks to limit those outlets to In the those images released by its own people, leading to a suspicion that it may censor news images Council’s in the interest of its own image or the interests of its sponsors. ... view, the The AFL leaves the Council no choice but to take up this issue as a serious threat to press freedom deportation of - the freedom of the press to inform the public on matters of interest and to report properly on news Mr Hunter and events without the intermediation of those seeking to ‘manage’ the news. his family As the finals approached, AAP still has no accreditation for its photographers. from Fiji amounted to a disgraceful International attempt to Fiji intimidate the On 29 February 2008 the Council issued a press release (GPR 282 on page 64) urging the interim media and government of Fiji to refrain from further damaging press freedom in Fiji. The Council condemned bully anyone the expulsion of newspaper publisher Russell Hunter by the interim government and called on the who criticises government to reverse this decision. In doing so, it joined the Fiji Media Council, Reporters without the Borders, Pacific Islands News Association, International Press Institute, PNG Media Council and government, many others in denouncing the government’s actions. or holds it In the Council’s view, the deportation of Mr Hunter and his family from Fiji amounted to a disgraceful accountable attempt to intimidate the media and bully anyone who criticises the government, or holds it accountable for its for its conduct. conduct. Apart from being an appalling attack on freedom of speech, the deportation of Mr Hunter will achieve no political advantage for the Fijian government, as Mr Hunter has stated his intention to continue writing and publishing for The Fiji Sun from Australia. This is not the first time that the interim government has penalised the media for its critical stance. If it is to develop a stable democracy in Fiji, with a press free to report on matters of public interest and concern, the government must permit Mr Hunter and his family to return immediately.
Timor Leste The Press Council has been invited by Kolkos (The Commission for Media Law) in Timor Leste to participate in a workshop aimed at collecting different perspectives on questions relating to the drafting of a media law in that emerging country. The workshop will take inputs from government, church and NGOs on topics such as freedom of expression, broadcasting law and press self-regulation. The Council’s involvement follows a visit to Timor Leste by Gary Evans, an editor member of the Council. One particularly worrying development was the possibility of a move towards the incorporation of criminal defamation in any legislation. The Council sought AusAid assistance in getting delegates to Dili for the workshop. Mr. Evans represented it, with AusAid assistance, at the workshop in Dili. The workshop was aimed at informing the process of developing Timor’s media law and practice. Legislators there are considering proceeding with criminal defamation law and the licensing of journalists, advised by Portuguese representatives who were making such proposals. Gary Evans and the Press Council were suggesting a self-regulatory model might be more practical. Mr Evans’ report noted, in part: As a representative of the Press Council, I outlined the history of the organisation’s foundation in 1976 and explained its operation in detail. Emphasis was put on the Council’s role as an alternative dispute resolution body to the civil law action of defamation. The process of handling complaints was explained and details of the operation of the Council as a “watchdog” on freedom of the press issues was outlined. Despite opposition from journalists and media management present it was obvious that a recommendation that defamation be included in the penal code will be submitted to the government for consideration.
21 Australian Press Council Annual Report 2007-2008
Free speech issues A representative of the United Nations, Dr Isabel Duarte, a lawyer from Portugal, was commissioned Timor Leste to attend the district workshops and to suggest general principles for media laws for presentation Indonesia to the government. These suggestions have been prepared and included defamation in the penal code. They also call for the licensing of journalists by a body administered by Parliament but not established as a statutory authority controlled by government. It would be composed of journalists and media representatives outside government but reporting to the Timor Leste Parliament. This body would include a disciplinary “watchdog” ... At the conclusion of the workshop Kolkos president Ottelio Ote said is was an historic meeting attended by 70 journalists and media representative and the first such meeting in Timor Leste. Kolkos would now further consult following the general principles as outlined by Dr Duarte. Kolkos would talk more about licensing and defamation and would formalise a clear position on issues it The case wanted in the law. Concerning defamation within the penal code if the government did not wish to involves a support Kolkos’s position it may be that the organisation would consider other ways for journalists defamation to be free to do their job the Kolkos president said. action brought Indonesian amicus brief against Time The Press Council is a signatory to an amicus curiae petition submitted to the Supreme Court of magazine by Indonesia, seeking review of its decision in the case of H M Suharto v Time Inc Asia, et al. The case former involves a defamation action brought against Time magazine by former President Suharto, which President saw the court ordering Time to pay $US106 millions in damages. The ruling is seen as inimical to the Suharto, push for press freedom in Indonesia. The Council agreed to become involved following discussions which saw with the Indonesia Press Council representatives who visited Australia in May. In addition to the two the court Press Councils, other signatories to the petition include the Alliance of Independent Journalists, Article ordering Time 19, Associated Press, CNN, the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, the Committee to to pay Protect Journalists, Dow Jones & Company, The Economist, The Financial Times, Human Rights $US106 Watch, Index on Censorship, International Bar Association Human Rights Institute, the International millions in Federation of Journalists, the International Media Lawyers Association, The Jakarta Post, MediaWise damages. The Trust, National Union of Journalists, Newsweek, The New York Times, the Southeast Asian Press Alliance, SBS, Tempo Magazine, The Times and The Washington Post. ruling is seen as inimical to the push for press freedom in Indonesia.
22 Annual Report 2007-2008 Australian Press Council
Charter of a free press in Australia
Preamble Freedom of opinion and expression is an inalienable right of a free people. Australia is committed to The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 19 of the Declaration provides: Everyone has the right of freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. Laws, regulations In a truly democratic society open debate, discussion, criticism and dissent are central to the and process of generating informed and considered choices. These processes are crucial to the practices formation of values and priorities and help in assessing and finding solutions to social, which in any economic and political problems. way restrict A free press means a free people and the people of Australia have a right to freedom of or inhibit the information and access to differing views and opinions and declare that the following right of the principles are basic to an unfettered flow of news and information both within Australia and press freely across the nation’s borders. to gather and The Principles distribute news, views 1. Freedom of the press means the right of the people to be informed by the press on and matters of public interest so that they may exercise their rights and duties as citizens. information 2. The press shall not be subject to government licence and government authorities are should not interfere with the content of news nor restrict access to any news source. unacceptable 3. The press has a responsibility to the public to commit itself to self-regulation which ... provides a mechanism for dealing with the concerns of members of the public and the maintenance of the ethical standards and journalistic professionalism of the press. 4. It is in the public interest for the press to make available to the people a wide diversity of views and opinions. 5. It is the responsibility of the press to protect the people’s right to know and to contest encroachments upon that right by governments, groups or individuals. 6. Laws, regulations and practices which in any way restrict or inhibit the right of the press freely to gather and distribute news, views and information are unacceptable unless it can be shown that the public interest is better served by such laws, regulations or practices than the public interest in the people’s right to know.
23 Australian Press Council Annual Report 2007-2008
Adjudications Intro 1362 Adjudications 1363 There were 35 adjudications issued by the Council in the year ended 30 June 2007. There continues to be use of the Council’s conciliation techniques to settle matters and a willingness in publications to find amicable settlements of complaints. On page 46 is a table showing a year-by-year comparison of complaints received, matters mediated or withdrawn (i.e. complaints settled amicably) and complaints adjudicated. The table indicates that there has been a trend away from referring matters for adjudication. One reason for this is the availability in recent years of an option of face-to-face mediation conducted by a member of the Council or of the Secretariat. Whatever the cause, fewer than 20 per cent of complainants now seek an adjudication. Below is a reprinting of all the adjudications issued during the year. Following a reprinting of all adjudications issued during the reporting year, this report carries a summary of the publication details of all adjudications, as well as an index of adjudications, sorted by the ethical issues involved.
Right to determine content Adjudication No. 1362 (August 2007) The Australian Press Council has dismissed a complaint by Colin Burrough and Shayne Chester, co-founders of the Community Action Against Methamphetamine (CAAMA) lobby group, against ... it points the Sydney Star Observer newspaper. The complaint centred on a column, The four and a half out that a year itch, by former editor Stacy Farrar published on 12 April, and a series of letters in response. newspaper Although CAAMA was not named in the column, the complainants took exception to the phrase has the right “the ex-crystal users lobby” used by the editor, saying the organisation, which they claim is the to determine only one of its kind, could have easily been identified by that descriptor. Subsequently Mr its editorial Burrough wrote a letter of complaint to the Sydney Star Observer in which he explained the content, organisation was not an ex-users’ group. His letter was published on 19 April. including Two weeks later the newspaper published two further letters which were at odds with Mr letters to the Burrough’s letter. The newspaper declined to publish a second letter in response submitted by editor. Mr Burrough on 14 May. Mr Burrough and Mr Chester claim they have been denied an opportunity to reply and that their complaints to the newspaper about bias and a lack of fair and balanced coverage of the work of CAAMA have been “stonewalled”. However, the incoming editor, Scott Abrahams, has offered to meet with Mr Burrough and Mr Chester “in the interests of fostering a better and more understanding relationship” between the Sydney Star Observer and CAAMA, but neither of these offers were taken up. While the Press Council is not in a position to make a judgement on the newspaper’s coverage of the use of crystal meth and CAAMA’s work, it points out that a newspaper has the right to determine its editorial content, including letters to the editor.
Unfair lack of balance Adjudication No. 1363 (August 2007) The Australian Press Council has upheld a complaint from Mark Longstaff, Principal of the Port Macquarie High School, about an article in the Holiday Coast Pictorial, a monthly publication circulating in the Port Macquarie region, in March 2007 under the heading These people are teaching our children. The article, written under the byline of the publication’s managing editor, appeared to be a report of a demonstration by local teachers, students and parents against the Prime Minister during a visit to Port Macquarie and included strong comments on the behaviour of the demonstrators.
24 Annual Report 2007-2008 Australian Press Council
Mr Longstaff says that the article is both inaccurate and unbalanced. He denies several of the Adjudications assertions made within the article, including those that appear to suggest that the teachers “took 1363 a day off”. 1364 The Holiday Coast Pictorial defends the article, stating it was a “commentary” piece. It says it was not an article about the actual protest, but more about the demonstrated behaviour observed among students, teachers and parents present on the day. The Principal of the Australian Technical ... the article College, which had hosted the Prime Ministerial visit, endorsed the article’s comments, supporting does not treat the publication in a letter to the Press Council after he had been made aware of the complaint. readers fairly The Council recognises the traditional right of editors to make comments, even strong comments, by making on issues. Nonetheless, in the Council’s view, the article lacks fairness on two grounds. It clear that it is contains extensive comments from Port Macquarie Hastings Council Mayor Rob Drew critical intended to of the demonstration but no balancing comments from Mr Longstaff or others involved in the be an opinion protest. Secondly, the article does not treat readers fairly by making clear that it is intended to be piece, and not an opinion piece, and not a report, and does not clearly distinguish fact from opinion within the a report, and piece. does not clearly Unfair to landlord distinguish Adjudication No. 1364 (August 2007) fact from opinion within The Press Council has upheld a complaint by Neville Beeston who alleged that the Bundaberg NewsMail exhibited bias against him in two articles and by not publishing two letters he had the piece. written outlining his concerns. On 13 January, NewsMail published a front-page article about the pending closure of a charity store run by Guide Dogs Queensland. It reported ‘the unexpected news that their lease is up’. The CEO of Guide Dogs Queensland was reported as saying that, in a letter to the landlord in October 2006, she had sought a month-by-month lease extension, but had not received a reply until Wednesday 10 January 2007 stating that ‘the lease would not be extended and the charity had to vacate’. The article then reported comments by Mr Beeston, the landlord, who said that the charity had written to ‘terminate the current agreement and inquired about a month-to-month lease’, but the charity had ‘never followed up on their initial inquiry’. Mr Beeston told the newspaper that he had ‘expected to hear more from them, but in the meantime we planned to re- roof the place’. The Press Council is not privy to the October correspondence and cannot say Because the whose interpretation of its content and implications is correct. tenor of the Following the publication of the article, Mr Beeston wrote a letter to NewsMail’s editor reiterating article his side of the story. The editor said that she had elected not to publish the letter because his conveys the comments had been reported in the original article. distinct impression On 20 April another article appeared, headlined Tears on grey day for dog painting, that described that the community reaction to the painting-over of a mural depicting a guide dog puppy that had long adorned the wall of the charity shop. Among other people quoted, a city councillor was reported charity was as saying that the mural would have been ‘nice to retain’ and that ‘It’s hard to fathom why they being have painted over it’. Mr Beeston complained that the article implied that he, as the landlord, precipitously had ordered or consented to the mural’s removal, which was not true. He pointed out this fact in evicted by its another letter to the editor which was not published. landlord, the The editor told the Press Council she had not sighted the second letter, but would be happy to article is publish a letter to ‘set the record straight’. The editor said that the 20 April article was ‘a feature- misleading style report on the end of a much loved mural’, that it ‘was not aimed at Mr Beeston and did not and unfair. mention him in the story’. The Press Council considers that the 13 January article failed fairly to convey the circumstances of the charity shop’s closure, stating that it was “unexpected news”. Because the tenor of the article conveys the distinct impression that the charity was being precipitously evicted by its landlord, the article is misleading and unfair. The article of 20 April incorrectly conveys the distinct impression that the painting-over of the much-loved mural was the work of the landlord. To the extent that the article made no attempt to ascertain who had ordered the mural’s removal, the article was unfair to Mr Beeston.
25 Australian Press Council Annual Report 2007-2008
Adjudications Timely letter required 1365 Adjudication No. 1365 (August 2007) 1366 The Press Council has dismissed a complaint brought by Paul Macak against The Australian regarding an editorial published in its 13 April 2007 edition. The editorial commented adversely on the ruling of the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) pertaining to talkback broadcasts before the Cronulla riots of December 2005 of Sydney radio commentator, Alan Jones. Jones had read out an email from a listener ‘J’ suggesting that biker gangs be invited to be present at Cronulla railway station to confront arriving ‘Lebanese thugs’. A day later, Jones read out a text message urging ‘Aussies…to take revenge against Lebs and wogs’. The editorial stated: ‘In layman’s terms, the ACMA said it was OK for Jones to publicise the text message…but not OK to read out the email about the biker gangs.’ This statement, according to The the complainant, created a ‘false impression’ of inconsistency on the part of ACMA as the editorial newspaper omitted a ‘pivotal’ comment of Jones that “’J’ has a good answer’”, which was determined by said that ACMA to be an endorsement of the email about biker gangs. given the Editorials are an expression of a newspaper’s opinion which the Press Council has consistently delay of three maintained should be given a broad latitude. Even if the omitted statement was pivotal as claimed weeks in the by the complainant, the more appropriate course of action in this instance would have been a submission of timely submission of a letter to the newspaper in furtherance of the public discourse. a letter from The newspaper said that given the delay of three weeks in the submission of a letter from the the complainant, ‘compelling’ reasons would be needed for the newspaper to consider publishing it. complainant, The newspaper further pointed out that the editorial was part of a wider reporting of the ACMA ‘compelling’ ruling, including the publication of two op-ed articles and letters commenting on both sides of reasons the ruling. would be The Press Council is of the view that the newspaper, in deciding not to publish the letter because needed for of the absence of compelling reasons, was exercising a discretion in a manner that was not the unreasonable. newspaper to consider publishing it. Reasonable offer declined Adjudication No. 1366 (September 2007) The Press Council has dismissed a complaint from the Bunbury Herald that the Bunbury Mail published a misleading article about the discovery of hundreds of undelivered newspapers and advertising catalogues among rubbish left on an untenanted property. The 23 May 2007 article identified the undelivered newspapers as Bunbury Heralds. Subsequently, when removing these undelivered newspapers, the Herald said they also found more than 1900 Bunbury Mails among the rubbish. They complained that the Mail’s report diminished their newspaper in the eyes of their public and, in omitting reference to the Mail’s own newspapers, the article was unbalanced, inaccurate and malicious. From the outset the Mail categorically denied the presence of their newspapers on the property. They said that their journalist did not see any, nor did the property owner who provided a letter to this effect to the Council. Further, the Mail’s distributor, responsible for transporting supplies to newspaper deliverers, said he had never visited the property. Yet the Herald asserted that some 1900 Bunbury Mails were cleared from a shed on the property by the Herald’s distributor and that this was corroborated by agents for the property. In support, the Herald supplied photographs of a shed, and newspapers carrying the Bunbury Mail masthead. The Mail responded that the newspaper deliverer at fault did not move into the premises in question until after she had ceased employment with the Mail and that it was not credible that she would have moved such a large number of newspapers from her previous domestic address. Given the profoundly polarized evidence presented by the parties, and the fact that the Mail
26 Annual Report 2007-2008 Australian Press Council
offered the Herald a chance to have a balancing comment published, an offer the Herald declined, Adjudications the Council can find no breach of its principles on accuracy and balance. 1366 1367 1368 Matters of public concern compromised by approach Adjudication No. 1367 (issued September 2007; revised and re-issued (December 2007) The Australian Press Council has upheld a complaint about articles published in The West Australian in January 2007. The first contained factual errors, which were not properly corrected in a subsequent article and editorial. The newspaper published a front-page photograph and a page 5 article on 24 January about a patient in a Perth hospital lying across three chairs in the emergency ward, attributing resource deficiencies to the WA Minister for Health, Jim McGinty, and the Health Department. The complainants in this case were the Minister and the Chief Executive of the Department’s North Metropolitan Area Health Service. The newspaper reported that the picture showed a frail, elderly woman understood to be suffering from a neurological condition who has spent “several hours” lying across three chairs in a Perth hospital’s emergency department. Overlaid on the picture was the heading: How would you feel if this was your grandmother, Jim? The photograph had been taken by an individual at the hospital and posted to the hospital’s Intranet. This was made worse In a letter written to the editor on the same day, the patient pointed out that she was not a by the lack of grandmother, not frail, and not suffering from a neurological condition. The West Australian proper chose not to publish this letter but only to quote a paragraph in a follow-up article (25 January amends for 2007) and to interpret the letter not as a letter to the editor but as one issued by the hospital’s public relations department. On the same day as she wrote the letter, the patient also said publicly publishing that she had spent only 10-15 minutes lying across the chairs. The newspaper went on to assert what turned in an editorial (26 January 2007) that the errors of detail ‘were immaterial to the issue’. out to be inaccurate The complainants stated that The West Australian wrongly reported the facts about the patient; information. that it did not tell its readers it had cropped the photograph, the original of which included a Ultimately the nurse at a desk near the patient; and that it neither sought balancing comment from the hospital newspaper’s nor did it properly apologise to the patient or the hospital for its errors. actions The newspaper argued that the cropping of the photograph was standard practice. It said that it compromised could not seek balancing comment from the hospital in order to protect its confidential source. its legitimate Its coverage of the incident, despite errors, was clearly in the public interest. attempt to air In the Press Council’s view, the newspaper’s failure to take reasonable steps to check the accuracy a matter of of what was reported, or seek balancing comment from the hospital, and instead to rely on an obvious public unsourced photograph, were breaches of the Press Council’s principles. This was made worse concern. by the lack of proper amends for publishing what turned out to be inaccurate information. Ultimately the newspaper’s actions compromised its legitimate attempt to air a matter of obvious public concern.
Notes: 1. At its October meeting, the Council’s Complaints Committee considered an appeal from The West Australian against the finding. This appeal was unanimously rejected by the committee. 2. The Press Council acknowledges that, in its 25 January follow-up article, The West Australian quoted two paragraphs, and indirectly referred to a third, from the patient’s letter, but notes that this does not affect the Council’s finding made clear in the final paragraph of the adjudication above.
No goji bias but link too ambiguous Adjudication No. 1368 (September 2007) The Australian Press Council has, by 9 votes to 8, upheld in part a complaint brought by David Bruckner against The Courier-Mail relating to an article published in its 23-24 June 2007 edition.
27 Australian Press Council Annual Report 2007-2008
Adjudications The article reported that Queensland health authorities were investigating ‘the death of a woman 1368 from liver toxicity after drinking the newly fashionable goji juice’. The article also stated that 1369 doctors at that stage were ‘reluctant to say whether goji juice, one of the latest nutrition fads’ contributed to the woman’s death ‘until tests confirm a link’. The article was published on page 14. It was given a page one pointer with the words Woman’s The Council death linked to new health trend alongside a picture of some goji berries. The headline of the also finds that page 14 article, Health food or fad? _ Woman’s death after use leads to inquiry, was superimposed neither of the over a photograph of goji berries. This headline which appeared in the first edition was changed headlines was to Fad fruit death link explored _ Authorities warn of natural medicine danger in a later edition. asserting a The complainant claimed that the “misleading ‘pointer’ and damning headline and the biased clear link article against goji juice and berries” had impacted severely on his company’s business. between the The Council finds that the claim of bias against goji juice and berries is not borne out by the woman’s contents of the article. The newspaper claimed that as the matter involved a public health issue death and goji it would have been negligent in failing to report an investigation into the death of the woman berries. from liver toxicity after drinking goji juice for a month. The Council endorses the stand of the newspaper on this aspect. The Council also finds that neither of the headlines was asserting a clear link between the woman’s death and goji berries. The Council finds however that the page one pointer should have been better worded. It was unambiguous in asserting a link and to that extent the complaint is upheld.
... the Special care needed with pictures of children Australian Adjudication No. 1369 (September 2007) Press Council In dismissing complaints over the use of pictures of Aboriginal children in reports on the Prime reaffirms that Minister’s plan to address matters of child abuse in Northern territory communities, the Australian newspapers Press Council reaffirms that newspapers and magazines have a duty to inform the public of and important issues and have the right to illustrate these issues with photographs. However, they magazines need to take special care when those images deal with children in circumstances where a false have a duty to inference can be drawn. inform the The complaints, by Frances Killaly against The Canberra Times and The Sydney Morning Herald, public of arose from the publication of pictures in both newspapers on the front page of their 22 June important editions. The Sydney Morning Herald also carried pictures of Indigenous children on other issues and pages. have the right Ms Killaly said that the children were clearly identifiable, that the use of their pictures implied to illustrate that they had been abused and the newspapers had breached the Press Council’s principles these issues concerning privacy. with The Canberra Times said that, like other Australian newspapers, they had published “generic” photographs. pictures of Aboriginal children along with the report of the federal intervention. The picture in However, they question showed a house typical of those in many disadvantaged Aboriginal communities, thereby need to take illustrating the broader problems in question. The photograph was taken with the consent of the special care girl’s family. when those images deal The Sydney Morning Herald said permission had also been given for the pictures it published. These related to scenes at two Northern Territory communities who had invited the newspaper with children to visit. The communities were both aware the photographs would be used to illustrate articles in relating to the endemic problems in Northern Territory Aboriginal communities. circumstances where a false While acknowledging Ms Killaly’s genuine concerns the Council does not believe the publication inference can of the pictures indicated the children had been abused. be drawn.
28 Annual Report 2007-2008 Australian Press Council
Press entitled to report history Adjudications Adjudication No. 1370 (October 2007) 1370 1371 The Australian Press Council has dismissed a complaint brought by Dr James Saleam against the Daily Telegraph arising from an article published on 3 March under the headline Bikini nazis hit the beach and stir the pot. There has The report referred to a video advertisement posted on the website of the Australia First party been a series which showed a woman in a burqa and a bikini being harassed on the beach by an unidentified of complaints man of “Middle Eastern appearance”. brought by Dr When asked about the video, Dr Saleam, who is head of the Australia First party, refused to Saleam comment but later wrote a letter to the editor about the report. The letter was not published. against Dr Saleam objected to the description of him in the article as a “former neo-Nazi” and of his various party as “white supremacist”. He further complained that the headline was incorrect as the only publications “Nazi” cited in the article seemed to be him; that it was wrong to say that Australia First wanted dating back to to use Cronulla riots to spark a wave of white nationalism; and that the paper had misrepresented 1996 that or suppressed relevant facts in its reference to him as being “convicted of organising a shotgun have been attack on a black politician”. adjudicated There has been a series of complaints brought by Dr Saleam against various publications dating by the Press back to 1996 that have been adjudicated by the Press Council concerning his politics and his Council criminal conviction and the Council has previously ruled that the press is entitled to report on his concerning activities. It can find nothing in the report that breaches its principles. his politics Following this latest complaint the Daily Telegraph composed a clarification that included Dr and his Saleam’s denial that he was a “former neo-Nazi” and a “white supremacist.” Dr Saleam agreed criminal to the wording of the clarification but three months later the paper withdrew the offer to publish conviction it. It is regrettable that the paper did not give Dr Saleam an opportunity to respond. and the Council has previously Letter best ruled that the Adjudication No. 1371 (October 2007) press is The Australian Press Council has upheld in part a complaint brought by The West Australian entitled to against The Australian over two alleged breaches of the Council’s principles in relation to a report on his column in the Media section of The Australian on 24 May 2007. activities. The column was written by media commentator Mark Day and it referred to a long-running “toxic row” which he says exists between The West Australian and the W.A. Government. In the commentary piece Day considers the stance and attitudes of both the newspaper and the Government. On the one hand Day defends the right of a newspaper to investigate, assess and comment on matters of public interest but notes the “extreme political pressures” that the Government has applied in its feud with the newspaper; on the other side, Day includes a comment on the combative attitudes of The West Australian under its editor Paul Armstrong. He observes that there exists an “unhealthy stalemate between The West [Australian] and the government”. He concludes by offering suggestions to both parties as to how the situation could be cooled. The West Australian, however, took issue with references in Day’s column and sought redress from The Australian through an appropriate correction at the end of a subsequent Day column. The reference related to an incident in a Perth Hospital that was reported by The West Australian on 24 January 2007, in which it was initially alleged that a frail, elderly woman was forced to sleep across three chairs because no beds or trolleys were available. The West Australian subsequently realised aspects were incorrect and dealt with them in a follow-up article and in a later editorial, although the paper continued its vigorous campaign against the alleged inadequacies of the W.A. hospital system. One point of the complaint revolved around Day’s statement, “Armstrong refused to admit error”. In fact, in its 26 January editorial, The West Australian admitted there were errors, even if it did not make proper amends for publishing inaccurate information. To the extent that The Australian has not corrected the inaccuracy in the column, the complaint is upheld.
29 Australian Press Council Annual Report 2007-2008
Adjudications A second complaint concerned this sentence in Day’s column: “The problem is that the woman 1371 was not aged, did not have a neurological condition, was offered a bed but chose to sit in the 1372 waiting room, and had praise, not complaint, about the treatment she was getting”. 1373 The West Australian took issue with “was offered a bed but chose to sit in the waiting room”, complaining that the woman, who was on a trolley, was asked to sit on a chair. The West Australian subsequently asked for an appropriate correction to be placed in The Australian. The Press An exchange of views between both newspapers took place. The Australian initially offered The Council finds West Australian space for a letter to the editor in the media section. The West Australian thought that Day’s the offer was inadequate and sought a correction to be published at the end of a subsequent Day column column. presents a legitimate The Press Council finds that Day’s column presents a legitimate opinion of a topical issue. The opinion of a sentence that offended The West Australian formed a small part of the total opinion piece. The topical issue. overall premise of the piece does not rest on the sentence or any error in it. The sentence Letters to the editor offer a proven means for complainants to answer criticism, correct that offended misconceptions and put alternative viewpoints. The West The Australian offered fair and reasonable redress to The West Australian through a letter to the Australian editor. formed a small part of the total Pejorative connotations opinion piece. Adjudication No. 1372 (October 2007) The Australian Press Council has upheld a complaint from Christopher Cooper over an article titled Doubts on ‘miracle food’ in The Sunday Mail, Brisbane, on 17 June 2007. The article questioned whether it was legitimate for Goji berries to have the “miracle food” reputation that they were developing. The complainant was referred to in the article as being General Manager in the Pacific for goji juice distributor ‘FreeLife’. Describing FreeLife, the article claimed that it was a “pyramid- The Council style marketing company, with new members signing up to become ‘marketing executives’ and believes the receiving commissions if they recruit other people”. It was this reference to the company being newspaper a “pyramid-style marketing company” that is the basis of the complaint. should have Pyramid schemes and pyramid selling are expressly outlawed under the Trades Practices Act both checked and it is reasonably widely known that this is the case. To label an existing business in any its facts manner using the word “pyramid” clearly has negative connotations. before printing such The Council believes the newspaper should have both checked its facts before printing such potentially potentially damaging material, and corrected the error promptly. damaging material, and corrected the Deliberately attention-grabbing error Adjudication No. 1373 (October 2007) promptly. The Australian Press Council has dismissed a complaint by Amber Summerville against The Perth Voice, a suburban newspaper, over its report of a verdict on costs in a sex-based harassment case handed down by the WA State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) on 5 April 2007. The newspaper, in a 19 May edition, reported a $7,500 costs verdict against Ms Summerville, after she had unsuccessfully pursued sexual harassment and sex-based harassment claims against work colleagues through the WA Equal Opportunity Commission in 2005 and the SAT in 2006. The costs case was unusual because proceedings brought under the Equal Opportunity Act in WA are normally “no cost” hearings. In awarding costs against Ms Summerville, the SAT President, Justice Michael Barker, took into account the finding in the 2006 SAT hearing that Ms Summerville’s evidence could not be relied upon and that, at their highest, her allegations could not be established
30 Annual Report 2007-2008 Australian Press Council
Ms Summerville wrote a letter to The Perth Voice’s editor detailing 31 questions she claimed Adjudications were raised by the article on the costs verdict. Many were irrelevant or introduced matters not 1373 covered by the newspaper. Others dealt with disputes of fact on which the Council is not in a 1374 1375 position to rule. She questioned why The Perth Voice covered the story in May when it had already been reported in the (Perth) Sunday Times in April. The newspaper responded that its reporter found the transcript on the SAT website and had not seen the earlier news report and had based his story on the 2006 and 2007 SAT judgment documents. Ms Summerville contended the report was biased against her because it did not seek her comment. The complainant further accused the newspaper of muddling and confusing the two complaints, but the Council can find no evidence of this. The headline Music teacher beats sex rap also attracted Ms Summerville’s ire. While the wording The was deliberately attention-grabbing, it adequately described the outcome of the case. publication of In the Council’s view there is no breach of the principles in the report, which relied largely on photographs tribunal documents. of bodies is not unusual. Confronting but legitimate Each time a Adjudication No. 1374 (December 2007) newspaper publishes The Australian Press Council has dismissed a complaint from Alison Brown over the publication, such material on 18 October, of a front-page colour photograph in The Sydney Morning Herald. The image it has to judge showed two forensic police near an open suitcase at the scene of the discovery of the body of a whether it is small child, which had been found in the suitcase floating in a lake in a suburban park. Ms going beyond Brown also complained about the use of quotes in the accompanying article from the two young the bounds of children who found the body. taste and Ms Brown said she thought that the newspaper had published the photograph hoping the majority whether it of readers were unaware that they were viewing the boy’s body in the open suitcase. She also risks said the quotes from the children were unnecessary and “didn’t appear to help the children deal offending its with this in an appropriately respectful and healthy way”. readers. The Herald defended the use of the picture, saying that “It was a serene, poignant, respectful ... In this illustration of the aftermath of a tragic event and did not focus on either the suitcase or its case, the contents”. It also said that it had “thought long and hard as to whether we should publish the Council does photograph. After much discussion we decided in favor of the publication”. not believe The publication of photographs of bodies is not unusual. Each time a newspaper publishes such the published material it has to judge whether it is going beyond the bounds of taste and whether it risks image offending its readers. breached its It is up to the newspaper to decide on these questions of taste and it has to handle any adverse principles. reaction from its readers if they feel it has gone too far. In this case, the Council does not believe the published image breached its principles. The quotes used may have been confronting but the Council does not agree with Ms Brown that they were inappropriate.
Identification not needed for impact Adjudication No. 1375 (December 2007) The Australian newspaper has a long-standing and passionate commitment to highlighting issues affecting the Indigenous community and improving conditions within that community. As part of this commitment the Weekend Australian published an article in its 18 August edition, headed Girls who become mums at age of 12. This article referred to the federal government’s intervention in Northern Territory Aboriginal communities that cast ‘a spotlight on cases of sexual abuse’. It discussed the case of two named Aboriginal girls. One of the girls was 16 at the time of the interview; the other was 13. This girl had become pregnant after having sex with her boyfriend
31 Australian Press Council Annual Report 2007-2008
Adjudications who was 14 at the time. 1375 1376 Jane Simpson complained to the Australian Press Council that the newspaper should not have 1377 published the name of the 13 year old claiming that it would not have done so ‘had she been a white middle-class girl’. If the The newspaper, in its response, claimed that the article was ‘a sympathetic portrayal of the rationale plight of young aboriginal women and the sadness surrounding their exposure to sex at such a underpinning young age’; that there was no legal restriction on naming the girl; that she was identified with the the informed consent of the girl’s aunt who had been authorised by the girl’s mother to speak prohibition is with the reporter; and that there was no violation of her privacy. to protect the The complainant said that she did not doubt that the story was in the public interest as claimed interest of the by the newspaper. However, she doubted ‘the need to reveal the child’s name’. She also queried young girl, whether genuine permission was given to the newspaper to do the story. She was also concerned that rationale that the girl would go through life ‘with, potentially, the whole world knowing that she was should inform pregnant under the age of 13’. the The Council believes that the newspaper had taken adequate care to obtain consent from all newspaper in named parties. deciding Nonetheless, the issue of whether the name of the girl should have been published is a highly whether to difficult one. If a criminal prosecution had ensued, the newspaper would have been prohibited publish her by law from publishing her name. If the rationale underpinning the prohibition is to protect the name or not interest of the young girl, that rationale should inform the newspaper in deciding whether to where no publish her name or not where no charges had been laid. That decision should be based on charges had compelling justification that, in the circumstances of this case, has not been made out. The been laid. Council is not convinced that the story would have been less powerful in its impact if the girl’s That decision identity had not been divulged. On the issue of the girl’s identification alone, the Council upholds should be the complaint. based on compelling justification Consent needs to be informed that, in the Adjudication No. 1376 (December 2007) circumstances The Australian Press Council has considered complaints against The Daily Telegraph about an of this case, article headlined Street safety has been shot to pieces published on page 8 of its 1 October 2007 has not been edition. made out. The article, referring to the previous weekend as a ‘weekend of violence’, reported two incidents involving robbery using firearms and the stabbing of three youths with a screwdriver. The article was accompanied by a close-up photograph of the youth a matter of hours after he had undergone surgery in St Vincent’s Hospital for four serious stab wounds. When The complaints from the hospital and the patient’s parents focused on the fact that, as a hospital publications in-patient, the victim’s right to privacy had been breached. interview While agreeing that the newspaper had received written consent from the year 11 student to subjects interview and photograph him, the complainants stated that he was medically ‘not in a position following to give informed consent’. surgery they The parties had divergent views on how the journalist and the photographer gained admission to should be the patient. The Council is in no position to determine what happened. aware that When publications interview subjects following surgery they should be aware that patients might patients not always be capable of giving informed consent. might not always be capable of Headline term not supported by article giving Adjudication No. 1377 (December 2007) informed The Australian Press Council has upheld in part a complaint against The Daily Telegraph, Sydney, consent. over its coverage of a convicted child murderer and his living in the same street as a primary school.
32 Annual Report 2007-2008 Australian Press Council
The paper reported on the discovery of the man living in a street that contains a school, his Adjudications record of convictions and the reaction of some parents upon discovering that he lived in the 1377 street. 1378 The complainants argued that the report contained errors of fact, information had not been obtained in an honest or fair manner, that the individual’s privacy had not been respected, facts have been misrepresented and the headline (Predator in their midst) did not accurately represent the facts. It is on the issue of the The paper argued that they ‘have consistently adopted a hard-line stance in respect’ of its reporting headline that in relation to this man ‘since the time of his release from prison in 1999’. It believes that the fact the Press he is on ‘life-time’ parole and has to wear an electronic bracelet at all times makes his whereabouts Council is a matter of legitimate public interest. upholding the The Press Council agrees that the issue of the placement of the man near a school is a matter of complaint as obvious public interest and the paper was justified in covering it. The paper also published on its the use of the blog site a variety of views as well as an Inside Edition feature that explored a variety of views term and issues surrounding the reestablishment of a person into society after committing a crime and ‘predator’ in serving a prison term. the main In the matters raised for adjudication the Press Council finds that the paper’s overall coverage of headline is the matter presented a number of viewpoints. Issues such as this highlight the difficult challenge not supported newspapers have of balancing their coverage between the public’s right to know and the rights by the facts in of individuals to privacy. the article. It is on the issue of the headline that the Press Council is upholding the complaint as the use of the term ‘predator’ in the main headline is not supported by the facts in the article.
No breach of privacy Adjudication No. 1378 (December 2007) The Australian Press Council has dismissed a complaint by Geoffrey Martin against the Gold Coast Bulletin arising from an article headed Glider dies in plummet from mountain and published on 13 October 2007. The article reported the death of a hang-glider in what was described by police as a freak accident. Three people at the scene of the accident were quoted: Geoff Martin, the complainant and a participant in the hang-gliding event; Senior Sergeant Mick Jones, who attended the accident; and Len Paton, a friend of the victim. The reporter also quoted a senior member of the fire brigade, although it was not clear whether he had attended the accident. Mr Martin said the article included factual inaccuracies and that his name was published without his consent. He added that he has been defamed and that his reputation has suffered because the article “gave the impression that (he) was fully cooperative with the press” when the association to which he belongs discourages giving interviews. ... it is usual for the media The newspaper agreed that Mr Martin did not supply his name and that he answered only “a to publish couple of questions”. This is consistent with the fact that Mr Martin’s comments are a minor names of aspect of the report, comprising two brief comments about his involvement in hang-gliding and witnesses the relative dangers of the sport. Neither quote is denied by the complainant. Mr Martin’s concern after they with accuracy relates to details provided by the police — the manner in which the victim died have been and the identity of the person who administered CPR. Despite Mr Martin’s concerns about how released by others might interpret the article, The Council can find nothing that would damage his reputation. the police, While it is regrettable that the newspaper ignored Mr Martin’s decision to withhold his name, especially this in itself does not breach Council’s principles as there were no other identifying details that when that could result in a breach of his privacy. Indeed, it is usual for the media to publish names of witness has witnesses after they have been released by the police, especially when that witness has provided provided comment. comment.
33 Australian Press Council Annual Report 2007-2008
Adjudications Editorial based on false premises 1379 Adjudication No. 1379 (December 2007) 1380 The Australian Press Council has upheld a complaint from the Albany Ratepayers and Residents Association against the Albany Advertiser over an article and editorial published on 14 June. The page one article reported community leaders’ reaction to a survey commissioned by the association on an Albany waterfront development. The editorial under a heading Damn lies and statistics again criticised the survey saying that it was flawed in both conception and analysis. The association claimed it had been misrepresented both in the page one article and editorial. It said that the page one article reported comment from people who had not received a copy of the The Press survey report nor had the newspaper provided a reasonable and swift opportunity for the Council association to respond. It also said that the editorial and its headline implied that the association supports had purposely set out to use statistics to make false claims, had been fraudulent and presented newspapers’ false results. This was not true, the association said. rights to In regards to the page one article the newspaper said that, prior to publication its reporter had express a made several attempts to obtain a copy of the full survey. This had not been provided. The article strong opinion was based on material contained in a press release by the association. The article quoted a on matters of representative of the Albany Chamber of Commerce and the state Minister for Planning critical public of the survey and a member of an action group who supported the survey. It included comment interest in by the association president that the survey was the first comprehensive, statistically-valid and their objective assessment of the Albany resident views. editorials, but Had the association approached the newspaper to respond to the article after publication it would those have been more than welcome, the newspaper said. opinions need The Council believes that, while the page one article does provide some balance, its headline, A to be firmly new tide of anger, and its introductory paragraph “Community leaders have slammed a survey based on the ...’ go further than is justified by the contents of the article. To the extent that this misrepresents facts. the association, the complaint about the article is upheld. The Press Council supports newspapers’ rights to express a strong opinion on matters of public interest in their editorials, but those opinions need to be firmly based on the facts. The editorial’s headline and some misrepresentation of the survey’s methodology and provenance have meant that the opinions in the editorial are based on false premises about the survey. For that reason this aspect of the complaint is also upheld. Since the publication of the article and editorial, the newspaper has published letters critical of its stance but, in the Council’s view, these letters do not provide sufficient balance for the misrepresentation of the association with regard to the survey.
Unfair associations Adjudication No. 1380 (January 2008) The Press Council has upheld a complaint that The Australian unfairly associated author and webmaster Scott Balson with organisations known to espouse racist, conspiracy and extreme right-wing views. The report, on 5 October 2007, alleged that right-wing extremists were behind a move to damage the then Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd by reviving the Heiner Affair a 1990 Queensland controversy arising from alleged government shredding of documents relating to a judicial inquiry. At the time Mr Rudd was a senior government officer. Mr Balson maintains a website devoted to keeping the Heiner Affair in the public arena. In a backgrounding of Mr Balson, The Australian listed a number of extremist groups whose controversial views have been published on his websites. Mr Balson said that the views in question were printed on an open forum on a news website that has been inactive for over seven years and were clearly referenced then as not his personal views. He argued that equally extreme views were now commonly aired on websites run by
34 Annual Report 2007-2008 Australian Press Council
media organisations. Adjudications 1380 The report quoted a spokesman for the Council of Australian Jewry that Mr Balson had long 1381 been associated with extremist right-wing views and conspiracy theories, without indicating 1382 whether this was a recent comment. Mr Balson complained that the report lacked balance in that during his brief interview via email ... the Council with The Australian he was not made aware of the full nature of the article nor given the notes that opportunity to rebut such criticism. people active The newspaper itself did not specifically accuse the complainant of being either anti-Semitic or in the racist but Mr Balson said that linking organisations with known anti-Semitic views from his political long closed website, together with comments by the Australian Jewry spokesman, would lead arena can be readers to infer that he was anti-Semitic, a charge he has vehemently denied for nearly a decade. burdened with In upholding the complaint, the Council notes that people active in the political arena can be past burdened with past associations long after such connections may have ceased to have any associations relevance. While the report refers to Mr Balson as a “former” One Nation webmaster, and he long after does not deny that one of his website forums once carried extremist material, it is important that such newspapers identify when these associations occurred, or demonstrate to readers that such connections associations are held contemporaneously. may have ceased to No excuse for errors have any Adjudication No. 1381 (January 2008) relevance. The Press Council has upheld a complaint by Timber Communities Australia (TCA) that The Mercury, Hobart, twice published inaccurate reports about old growth logging agreements. The opening statement in a page three story, headlined Old-growth deadline faces axe, said that the Tasmanian government was “unlikely to meet a Tasmania Together deadline to end the logging of old-growth forests by 2010”. TCA advised The Mercury that there was in fact no deadline to “end the logging ... by 2010”, but rather one to end clear-felling. In fact the article noted “that clear-felling of old growth logging would end in 2010” in paragraph five. The Mercury published a correction of its opening statement two days later, on page 14 of its Friday edition. A week or so later, in her ‘Like It Is’ column in the Sunday Tasmanian, the Sunday edition of The Mercury, Patsy Crawford, under the headline ‘Tis fodder for the forest file, again referred to 2010 as the “Tasmania Together date to end old-growth logging”. TCA complained to The Mercury that the Crawford item “repeats and increases the harm and hurt brought by your previously The admitted incorrect and misleading statements”. prominence The Sunday Tasmanian published a correction to the Crawford item in her column the following of the Sunday. Tasmania In correspondence with the complainant, The Mercury’s editor stated that a memo had been sent Together to staff following the original error, but that Ms Crawford was not on staff, and it was a human agreements is error on the part of the sub-editor that failed to pick up Ms Crawford’s repeating of the original such that The mistake. Mercury has no reasonable The prominence of the Tasmania Together agreements is such that The Mercury has no reasonable excuse for its excuse for its original error about logging and clear-felling deadlines, and its subsequent repetition. The Press Council also requires that publications correct errors promptly, and with appropriate original error prominence, which the first correction clearly lacked. about logging and clear- felling Failure of mediation regrettable deadlines, Adjudication No. 1382 (January 2008) and its The Australian Press Council has upheld one complaint and dismissed two other complaints subsequent brought by the Muslim Community Reference Group against The Australian in respect of four repetition. articles, published in separate editions of the newspaper in August 2007. The Council has upheld the complaint related to the presentation of a 6 August article headlined
35 Australian Press Council Annual Report 2007-2008
Adjudications India grapples with hydra of terror. It has dismissed complaints related to an article, Islam’s 1382 poison cells, published on 14 August, and to a 21 August article, Warning to West on “evil of 1383 Islam”, and a 22 August comment, Breakout begins from Islam’s mental prison, both of which referred to Wafa Sultan as a Muslim. The complainant says that the 6 August article wrongly portrayed Tablighi Jamaat, a religious movement with members in 80 countries, as an Islamic terror group, when it was in fact a “mainstream moderate Muslim organisation”. The feature article, sourced to the paper’s South Asian correspondent, was a detailed look at some of the evidence emerging of links between members of Tablighi Jamaat and terrorism, including a number of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, some of the London bombers from 7 July 2005 and other named individuals. While the It is to be article itself does not explicitly name Tablighi Jamaat as a terrorist organisation, and carefully regretted that examines the current situation in India with regard to a number of groups linked with terrorism, the parties or suspected of terrorist links, a table published with the article, “Islamic terror groups in India”, could not names Tablighi Jamaat at the top of the list. agree on a A main thrust of the complaint is that the paper “lists Tablighi Jamaat as an Islamic terror group”. publishable To the extent that the table attached to the article makes this claim, which goes further than the letter but, in material reported in the article would suggest, the complaint is upheld. the Council’s The 14 August article, Islam’s poison cells, was originally published in the UK Sunday Times view, the under the heading, How I escaped Islamism. The author is a former member of Hizb Ut-Tahrir, newspaper described as an Islamist terrorist group. The complainant says that the headline used in The was not Australian is an attack on Islam, and a breach of the Council’s guideline on the use of religious unreasonable terms in headlines. It said the cited group has not been declared a terror group in either Australia in refusing to or the UK. Given that Hizb ut-Tahrir has been proscribed in a number of countries, it is a reasonable publish a descriptor for the paper to use. letter at the On the question of the headline the Council does not consider that the headline misrepresents length the contents of the article in the way the complainant outlined. The article deals with the reasons submitted. for the author’s leaving an organisation he sees as inimical to the health of Islam as a whole. The third complaint arises from a report of, and commentary on, Wafa Sultan, a critic of Islam. She says that she no longer believes in Islam, “but I am a Muslim”. The complainant does not believe that a person who has renounced Islam should be called a “Muslim”. As both articles make clear that Wafa Sultan has renounced Islam, no reader would be misled by the description of her as either a “Muslim thinker” or a “Muslim woman”. The newspaper, while maintaining its view that there was no substance to the complaints, offered to publish a letter from the complainant. In the context of complaints such as these, the Council believes that the publication of a contrary viewpoint is the best way for complainants to air their concerns. Following mediation by the Council, the complainant submitted a strongly-worded letter that was over 1000 words in length. The complainant would not comply with a request from the newspaper to reduce the letter to 250 words, nor would the newspaper publish a response at such length or of such an intemperate tone. It is to be regretted that the parties could not agree on a publishable letter but, in the Council’s view, the newspaper was not unreasonable in refusing to publish a letter at the length submitted.
Not a proper sample Adjudication No. 1383 (January 2008) The Australian Press Council has upheld a complaint by the Jewellers’ Association of Australia (JAA) against the online edition of The Sydney Morning Herald (smh.com.au) of 27 August 2007. The website carried a report by Australian Associated Press (AAP) on a survey that claimed 70 per cent of consumers suspect they are being “ripped off” when they buy diamonds, and do not trust jewellers. A similar story was published on news.com.au (the News Limited news website). The JAA challenged the accuracy of the survey, complaining that it was an open-access, uncontrolled online poll for an industry operative with an interest in scaring consumers into
36 Annual Report 2007-2008 Australian Press Council
having their diamonds independently appraised before purchase. The survey was conducted on Adjudications behalf of the Diamond Certification Laboratory of Australia (DCLA), an internationally-accredited 1383 diamond grading company. 1384 While it supports independent certification of diamonds, the JAA contended that DCLA used the poll to vilify the entire Australian jewellery industry. AAP said it established that DCLA was a reputable organisation that would be expected to have a valid and authoritative view on the state of the diamond industry, but did not question the The scope or methodology of the poll. Australian The Sydney Morning Herald responded that it took the AAP article at face value. It said it Press Council generally accepts that its wire services follow proper procedures, and it is impossible for an has clear entity like smh.com.au to afford the time and staffing needed to check the huge volume of guidelines on stories that AAP contributes. the reporting In the Council’s view, newspapers and their websites are solely responsible for their editorial of opinion content, regardless of the source. The use of unchecked material is at the publisher’s own risk. polls, of which AAP While DCLA may well be an expert on diamonds, its Press Release did not state its own views and about the honesty of jewellers, but rather those of an unknown number of people attracted to an smh.com.au online poll. AAP and/or smh.com.au should have questioned the methodology and depth of the should be well survey so that their editors could make an informed judgment on whether or not to publish, or, if aware. They published, so that readers could form their own opinions as to its veracity. Having published the encourage article the website should have offered redress to JAA when it became aware that the survey was an online poll. The JAA withdrew its complaint against news.com.au after that website made editors to be such an offer. cautious of open access The Australian Press Council has clear guidelines on the reporting of opinion polls, of which online polls, AAP and smh.com.au should be well aware. They encourage editors to be cautious of open where the access online polls, where the sample size in unknown, the questions asked are unknown, and sample size in where the results have been generated by self-selecting respondents and not by proper statistical unknown, the sampling. questions The guidelines on opinion polls, and on other sensitive issues, are accessible on the Council’s asked are website, and are commended to all editors. unknown, and where the Read headline in conjunction with sub-head results have Adjudication No. 1384 (March 2008) been generated by The Press Council has dismissed a complaint brought by the Church of Scientology against The self-selecting Daily Telegraph regarding the headline of the article published in the 10 July 2007 edition. respondents The original complaint concerned allegations of unfairness in a series of articles published in the and not by 10, 11 and 14 July editions. Subsequently, the complainant confined the complaint to the headline proper over an article that reported the court appearance of a woman who had been charged with statistical murdering her sister and her father. The headline was SCIENTOLOGY SLAYING, accompanied sampling. by a sub-heading: Court told of church link to killing. The article reported that the woman who had been charged with the murders was allegedly forced to stop taking psychiatric drugs by her family “because of their Church of Scientology beliefs”. It also reported testimony in the court that her parents had insisted that their daughter “take medication imported from the US, which was ‘not psychiatric in nature’ and complied with the Church of Scientology’s rules”. The nub of the complaint regarding the headline was that “people reading the headline understood it to mean that Scientology was responsible for the slaying/killing”. The newspaper response was that the headline when read in isolation “has virtually no meaning” or “so many possible meanings as to be meaningless”. When read with the sub-heading, its meaning becomes apparent, namely, “a court had been told that there were possible links between a church and a ‘slaying’,” the newspaper said. It further said that the headline was an attempt to “catch reader attention” and “convey an accurate sense of what the story is about”.
37 Australian Press Council Annual Report 2007-2008
Adjudications Without the sub-heading, the headline SCIENTOLOGY SLAYING does have a degree of ambiguity. 1384 The Council agrees that the newspaper is correct in saying that the headline should be read in 1385 connection with the sub-heading and the complaint is dismissed. 1386 1387 Information provided by reliable source Adjudication No. 1385 (March 2008) The Press Council has dismissed a complaint by Peter Davidson over a 6 December 2007 article But the in The Courier-Mail, headed Move to stop the rot, on the Queensland Government’s decision to newspaper is fluoridate water supplies. entitled to The basis of Mr Davidson’s complaint was that The Courier-Mail had knowingly deceived its report the readers in its reporting of statistical studies of fluoride and dental health in Queensland, and had information utilised a study from 1991-1992, which he described as ‘outdated’, rather than using statistics provided by from a more recent study. the Premier in support of a The newspaper stated that it had relied on the information provided by the Premier, Anna Bligh, Government dated 5 December 2007. In her statement headed Fluoridation to deliver better oral health for Queenslanders, Ms Bligh said that the Government “cannot ignore the extensive scientific decision. evidence that shows fluoridation is the missing link in Queensland’s oral health system”. The Press Council is in no position to determine the statistical accuracy of surveys, or to question the facts on which the Government made its decision. But the newspaper is entitled to report the information provided by the Premier in support of a Government decision.
Too much information Adjudication No. 1386 (March 2008) The Press Council has upheld a complaint that The Daily Telegraph invaded the privacy of a The Press police officer and his family by unnecessarily publishing residential and family details. Council finds The article published to The Daily Telegraph website on 8 November 2007 and then in the that the printed edition on 9 November 2007 detailed an assault on an off-duty police officer. publication of The officer complained that the articles contained sufficient information to identify him, his personal residential address, the number of children he had and where they attended school. The officer is information of the view that the safety of his family and quality of life at their home has been compromised relating to the by publication of this information. officer did not have respect In response, The Daily Telegraph said that news imperatives compel newspapers, and the media for the in general, to provide detailed information to the public on matters relating to crime and public privacy and safety. The response also acknowledged that the police media unit had described the victim as a married, off-duty police officer with children. The police media release did not identify the sensibilities officer. of individuals involved, thus The Press Council finds that the publication of personal information relating to the officer did breaching the not have respect for the privacy and sensibilities of individuals involved, thus breaching the Council’s Council’s Principles, and the publication of personal details has intruded on the privacy and Principles, safety of the officer and his family, in breach of the Print Media Privacy Standards. and the publication of Association still exists personal Adjudication No. 1387 (March 2008) details has The Australian Press Council has dismissed a complaint about a feature article in the 15-16 intruded on September 2007 edition of the Weekend Australian. the privacy and safety of The article, A matter of education, was an in-depth discussion of the results of research into the officer Australian attitudes towards Muslim immigrants. Several specific research activities were referred and his family to including a March 2007 weekend meeting, Australia Deliberates, at Canberra’s Old Parliament House, where 329 ‘representative Australians’ were invited to discuss the issues with experts on both sides of the debate.
38 Annual Report 2007-2008 Australian Press Council
The complainant, Denis McCormack, was a speaker at the meeting and was described in the Adjudications article as ‘Australians Against Further Immigration’s Denis McCormack, an advocate for white 1387 Australia’. Mr McCormack said that both these statements were untrue. An accompanying 1388 1389 photograph, showing Mr McCormack holding up a Union Jack, carried the caption ‘No more immigration: Denis McCormack speaks at the meeting’. The official program for the event lists Mr McCormack as an ‘independent immigration researcher and co-founder of Australians Against Further Immigration and Australia First Party’. Mr McCormack says that the newspaper took this reference to mean that he was representing AAFI and AFP at the event. He complained to the newspaper and was invited to submit a letter to the editor, an offer he declined. The Australian said that the journalist was entitled to assert that Mr McCormack was an advocate for white Australia because of what he said at the meeting, including, “The real issue is are we giving white Australia a fair go by demographically consigning it to the scrap heap through unasked for, unnecessary, high non-European immigration”. The reference to Mr McCormack’s association with AAFI is widely used, as it was in the official program. The Press Council does not believe that the newspaper violated any of its principles in its coverage of Mr McCormack’s contribution to the debate and dismissed the complaint.
Readers’ sensibilities ignored Adjudication No. 1388 (May 2007) The Press Council has upheld a complaint brought by Daryl Sleep against the Nam Uc Tuan Bao, a South Australian Vietnamese-language publication, regarding materials published in its Without 18 January 2008 edition. The materials relate to photographs that purportedly show a human putting these foetus being prepared for cooking and a man in China apparently eating the cooked foetus. The images in complainant found the photographs to be revolting and shocking. context the The article accompanying the photographs was highly critical of the Chinese Communist Party newspaper and the Chinese government. It reported alleged atrocities committed by the Chinese government has sought to against its own people and used this as an excuse for publishing these images. It said that the portray them persecution by the Chinese government of followers of Falun Gong and the jailing of reporters as absolute and the operating of a vast censorship system were occurring despite a promise to the International factual Olympic Committee to ensure complete media freedom. accounts and The newspaper published the images without explaining that they were apparently the work of a has also Chinese performance artist named Zhu Yu, that they were over eight years old, and that they failed to take have been circulating on the Internet and in anti-Chinese newspapers since 2000. Without putting into account these images in context the newspaper has sought to portray them as absolute factual accounts the and has also failed to take into account the sensibilities of readers. In doing so the newspaper sensibilities has infringed the ethical principles governing the print media in Australia. of readers.
Leaked in the public interest Adjudication No. 1389 (May 2007) The Australian Press Council has dismissed a complaint by Keith Roberts against Australian Motorcycle News. The material complained of – a report and a single-paragraph pointer to it – was based on emails from a member of Motorcycling Australia’s Historic Commission criticising aspects of the organisation of racing events held on Phillip Island. The official was not named in the material, but after publication Mr Roberts identified himself as the sender of the emails. He complained that the material published relied on private correspondence that had been used without his permission or that of the recipients; that the emails had been edited in such a way as to alter the purpose of his comments; and that the magazine had not sought his comments before publication.
39 Australian Press Council Annual Report 2007-2008
Adjudications The magazine disagreed that the emails should have been regarded as a private exchange, because, 1389 it says, they were provided to it by two of the parties to the correspondence. It points out that 1390 reports that rely on such so-called leaks are a legitimate form of journalism. It said the fact the 1391 emails’ sender was a senior official of the national governing body of Australian motorcycle racing and that his comments concerned the conduct of a major sporting event held at a venue that receives substantial government funding meant there was strong public interest in the material The Press being published. Council It also said the edited version of the emails that it published accurately reflected the tone and agrees that position stated by Mr Roberts and that since the emails were themselves the expression of Mr the published Roberts’ comments it had no obligation to seek out further comment before publication. material is an accurate The Press Council agrees that the published material is an accurate representation of the views representation Mr Roberts expressed in his emails and that the fact the magazine did not identify him as their of the views source validates its decision not to approach Mr Roberts for further comment. The Council Mr Roberts supports the view that in cases where a strong public interest exists leaked information is a expressed in valuable and legitimate source. his emails and that the Comments not required fact the Adjudication No. 1390 (May 2007) magazine did The Australian Press Council has dismissed a complaint by Ralph Horowitz that The Age treated not identify him unfairly by not seeking his comment in what he described as a “biased” year-end analysis of him as their the performances of Victorian radio station 3AW. source validates its The article in the newspaper’s Green Guide of 13 December 2007, noted that 3AW (owned by decision not Fairfax Media, which also owns The Age) had “cruised out of yet another year in top spot” in to approach the ratings. Mr Horowitz said that the bias arose from the mutual ownership of the two outlets. Mr Roberts for 3AW had achieved its success, the article said, despite “a mid-year footy ratings freefall - a further problem fixed by four prominent sackings”. Mr Horowitz, 3AW’s executive football producer, comment. The was dismissed with three on-air colleagues in a mid-season revamp of the football program’s Council format. supports the The article documented the partial recovery in football ratings after the revamp. view that in cases where Mr Horowitz accused The Age of publishing a one-sided, unchallenged regurgitation of “PR a strong spin” in favour of an associate company, and of not seeking his comment. The newspaper rejected public the complaint, citing Mr Horowitz’ earlier refusal to speak to the journalist after his sacking interest “citing legal reasons”. exists leaked Given that the article principally dealt with 3AW’s continuing rule as Melbourne’s premier information is broadcaster and recovery in its football ratings after the mid-season revamp, the Council believes a valuable comment from the sacked workers was not essential. and The Age properly disclosed its association with 3AW in the article, and the Council can find no legitimate evidence that the charge of bias is sustainable. Nonetheless the Council reminds editors that they source. should always bear in mind the public perception that there might be bias in reports on the activities of corporate stablemates.
Right to edit letters Adjudication No. 1391 (May 2007) The Press Council has dismissed a complaint by Arthur Hadaway over the editing of a letter which appeared in the Bribie Weekly on 7 March 2008. The letter addressed his concerns about plans for an easement near his home. Mr Hadaway claimed that the editing of the letter materially changed what he had wanted to say. The Council found that it could be argued that the editing slightly changed the meaning, but that did not detract from the main arguments put forward by Mr Hadaway.
40 Annual Report 2007-2008 Australian Press Council
From Mr Hadaway’s correspondence with the Council and in a letter to Council from the editor Adjudications in chief of the newspaper, it seems the change was discussed with Mr Hadaway before the letter 1391 appeared, although there is disagreement as to the outcome of that discussion. 1392 1393 All newspapers have the right to edit letters to the editor for length, grammar and to ensure they are not defamatory. In this case, the newspaper made a minor change and then published Mr Hadaway’s letter in full. The Council also noted that in the 29 February 2008, edition of the newspaper, Mr Hadaway All appeared in a page one story about the easement and his concerns were prominently reported. newspapers have the right to edit letters Errors and unfairness corrected to the editor Adjudication No. 1392 (June 2008) for length, The Press Council has dismissed a complaint by Australians for Palestine against The Australian grammar and over its response to concerns with a bylined feature article published in its 19 January 2008 to ensure edition. The article (Deep inside the plucky country), written by foreign editor Greg Sheridan, they are not sets out the impressions and personal reflections of Mr Sheridan arising from an extended tour defamatory. of Israel he took in late 2007. In this The complaint focussed in the main on two assertions in the article. The first was the statement case,Athe ‘Israel was more reported a few years ago, when terrorists were murdering 1500 of its citizens a newspaper year’ while the second was that Israel ‘was subject to thousands of rocket attacks from southern made a minor Lebanon until it went to war with Hezbollah’. The complainant said that these assertions were change and ‘clearly false and inaccurate’ and cited data which it said contradicted these assertions. then published Mr After representations from the complainant, and others, the newspaper published two clarifications from Mr Sheridan in which he amended the figures with lower estimates of 1100 deaths over Hadaway’s five years from terrorism and “hundreds” of rocket attacks. The complainant has concerns with letter in full. the accuracy of the figures in the clarifications, as well. Such disparity in estimates is characteristic of the debate about statistics in Middle-East affairs. The complainant submitted a letter seeking to correct what it saw as inaccuracy and unfairness in the Sheridan article. The newspaper explained that it chose not to publish letters emanating from what appeared to it to be ‘an organised writing campaign’. It chose, instead, to publish a letter from an Australian academic (Kylie Baxter) in the form of a bylined feature article, which provided some balance to the Sheridan article. The Press In addition to the concerns with statistics, the complaint offered different interpretations to Mr Council Sheridan on the events leading to the 1967 War and to the seizing of the Golan Heights in that believes that war. These issues were not canvassed in the Baxter article. on this occasion it The Press Council believes that on this occasion it would have been a reasonable exercise of would have discretion on the part of the newspaper to publish a letter from the complainant. been a reasonable Need for balance in election coverage exercise of Adjudication No. 1393 (June 2008) discretion on The Australian Press Council has dismissed complaints from Peter Bates against the Central the part of Telegraph, Biloela, Queensland. Mr Bates a mayoral candidate in elections for the Banana Shire the complained of four matters arising during the election campaign. newspaper to publish a In particular, the 7 March edition published the week before local government elections in letter from Queensland contained photographs of mayoral candidates with the caption under Mr Bates’ the headshot saying “… did not attend either of the mayoral candidates meetings in Biloela or complainant. Moura”. The issue also carried an article referring to the history of the newspaper that recorded Mr Bates as being manager of the newspaper for two decades. Mr Bates said nobody had contacted him about meeting in Moura and he could not attend the Biloela meeting because of a previous commitment. He also complained the history article did not make reference to the contribution he had made during his 25 years in managerial positions 41 Australian Press Council Annual Report 2007-2008
Adjudications with the newspaper. 1393 1394 He accused the newspaper of editorial bias in both instances, showing that the newspaper favored another candidate for the mayoral position. In its response the newspaper said the photographs were published with an article covering a “Meet the Mayoral Candidates” public meeting by the Moura Chamber of Commerce. Mr Bates did not attend this meeting or a similar meeting in Biloela. Mr Bates does not dispute this. The newspaper said that the history article had been prepared in advance of publication and was printed in the 7 March edition when space became available. Further material on Mr Bates’ contribution to the newspaper was supplied after the article had been written and prepared for publication. The Reference to Mr Bates contribution followed a segment that mentioned “the people who have newspaper passionately worked to ensure the paper makes its way into the homes of the 10,000 people who responded read it every week”. that it had a policy not to In this context the Press Council believes Mr Bates’ contribution has been recognised. publish Mr Bates sent two press releases to the newspaper during the election campaign referring to letters from population decline in the shire and complained that neither of the releases was published. any mayoral The newspaper said that the figures relating to population decline had been published previously candidate and the material in each of the releases was part of Mr Bates’ election campaigning. The newspaper during the provided each candidate with equal and fair editorial coverage and made provision for each election candidate to run a large introductory article. campaign. The Council believes editors have the right to ensure balance in publishing electoral material In the Press and in this case believes the newspaper has not breached Council principles. Council’s Mr Bates also complained that a letter to the editor he had sent containing criticism by the view, such a Queensland Ombudsman of the shire council was not published. The newspaper responded that policy is it had a policy not to publish letters from any mayoral candidate during the election campaign. reasonable In the Press Council’s view, such a policy is reasonable but, particularly in a community but, newspaper, any such policy should be clearly notified by the newspaper. particularly in a community newspaper, Should have contacted council any such Adjudication No. 1394 (June 2008) policy should The Press Council has upheld a complaint by the Northern Grampians Shire Council against the be clearly Stawell Times-News about a front page lead article and an editorial on 14 March relating to the notified by problems in establishing an aircraft service business in Stawell. the The article was based on an interview with the proprietor of the business who described his newspaper. problems in securing a lease from the shire council and the difficulty in getting power and other services connected. He criticised the shire council and its planning staff over the lease negotiations including the length of the lease and also said he could not start the operation without connected power. The shire council complained that the newspaper had not contacted it before the publication to seek comment or explanation; there were factual errors in the report; and the editorial built upon the inaccuracies to draw invalid conclusions and criticisms. The shire council said it had available a prepared statement on the matter from its CEO, which it provided to the ABC before it broadcast a report on the problems of the same business, but the newspaper did not contact it before publication. It said it would have also provided background on the issue. A shire council officer prepared a proposed correction and apology which the shire council wanted published on page one with equal prominence. The newspaper said it would not publish it in the proposed format. After a meeting between the editor and the CEO, the newspaper published on page three an apology in which it corrected the statement that the businessman was 42 Annual Report 2007-2008 Australian Press Council
in a battle with the shire council to negotiate a fair lease when in fact the lease had already been Adjudications signed. 1394 1395 The newspaper offered space for the local council to give its views on the matter in a story quoting a council officer or in a letter to the editor. The shire council rejected the offer saying it would “seem we are just defending ourselves, therefore attracting further criticism, and the Because the matter will go on and on and on”. newspaper failed to The Northern Grampians CEO said he was not satisfied with the published correction and apology contact the as it minimised the scale of the error and failed to apologise for not giving him the opportunity local council to correct the facts or seek comment. before Because the newspaper failed to contact the local council before publication to ensure fairness publication to and balance on such a contentious issue where the shire council was being attacked, accompanied ensure by editorial criticism, the Press Council upholds the complaint. fairness and balance on Other voices heard such a Adjudication No. 1395 (June 2008) contentious issue where The Australian Press Council has dismissed a complaint against the Albany and Great Southern the shire Weekender about an article in its edition of 17 January 2008. council was The article was one of a series published by the newspaper concerning a local waterfront project, being with a sub-article referring to a “referendum” held by the Albany branch of VOICE Australia, a attacked, group which initiates polls it calls “citizens’ referenda” to further its political objectives. accompanied The complainant, Vera Torr, a VOICE member who had manned a polling booth for the by editorial “referendum”, said the last three paragraphs of the sub-article contained an insinuation about the criticism, the group’s intentions, and that the final paragraph was defamatory of her. She wrote a long letter to Press Council the newspaper stating her views and asking for a printed apology. upholds the In its response the newspaper advised that the article had failed to make it absolutely clear that complaint. it was the State Government which had questioned the group’s intentions and that the final paragraph should have explained that the group had used the electoral roll to “telemarket local ratepayers” on the issue. It was this last paragraph, which read, ‘There is also the use of personal information about every Albany resident originating from electoral rolls being used by the group’, which Ms Torr said was defamatory as it accused her of misusing electoral roll information. Ms Torr was not named anywhere in the article but believed she was identifiable as “we are easily identified and wear This name tags when manning the polling booth”. She confirmed the group’s possession of a copy of particular the roll. development project is The originator of VOICE, Malcolm McClure, had made known his dissatisfaction with the same two paragraphs of the article at a meeting with the newspaper, but did not wish to pursue the obviously an matter. important local issue The newspaper twice offered Ms Torr the opportunity to write a letter to the editor; both offers and the were rejected, with Ms Torr demanding a printed apology. newspaper This particular development project is obviously an important local issue and the newspaper has has published published a number of articles and letters on the subject several of which refer to the VOICE a number of “referendum”. articles and The Council does not believe any of its principles was breached by the newspaper. letters on the subject several of which refer to the VOICE “referendum”.
43 Australian Press Council Annual Report 2007-2008
Adjudications Source cannot dictate story 1396 Adjudication No. 1396 (June 2008) The Australian Press Council has dismissed a complaint from Josephine Conway over an article ... the Council titled Weeping for Melody published in The Northern Star on 31 March 2008. reaffirms its The article arose after the complainant had read an article in the same newspaper a few days long-held the earlier which reported that the New South Wales Department of Community Services had been view that a criticised for its performance in child protection matters. That earlier article had suggested that source cannot the Department might be responsible for “another stolen generation” in removing some children dictate the from the care of their parents. interpretation The complainant contacted the newspaper, and provided considerable information relating to that a what she perceived to be an injustice by the Department as it related to the situation with her and newspaper her deceased daughter, Melody. The complainant’s intention was that the newspaper would use might take on the information provided about her family situation in an article to add further weight to the information perceived failings of the Department, and particularly that Melody was “stolen” by the provided to it. Department. It is not Instead the article dealt with the information in a different way. While picking up the complainant’s suggested views about the Department’s failings, the article heavily concentrated on the personal and that the emotional impact that the events (and subsequent death of Melody) had taken on the complainant. newspaper The complainant believed this approach was inappropriate and, in addition, that the article misrepresented contained some factual errors. She also complained about the quality of a published photograph the personal taken of her by the newspaper. (The Council saw no problem with the published photograph.) and emotional The newspaper defended the accuracy of the article, with the exception of one aspect for which effects of this it subsequently published a correction. It contended that it had accurately reflected Ms Conway’s major event grief, concerns and suspicions of the Department. on the While the Council can understand the frustrations of the complainant, in dismissing the complaint complainant. the Council reaffirms its long-held the view that a source cannot dictate the interpretation that a newspaper might take on information provided to it. It is not suggested that the newspaper misrepresented the personal and emotional effects of this major event on the complainant. The matters on which the article is based are complex and the Council is in no position to rule definitively on their accuracy.
44 Annual Report 2007-2008 Australian Press Council
Publication Details Adjudications Publication details Of the 35 adjudications issued by the Council, all but one were printed by the publication concerned. The following table lists the Council’s adjudications, together with the date of their printing by the publication. Some were printed in other publications as well and the Council notes those of which it is aware. Each meeting the Complaints Committee looks at the adjudications from the previous month and ensures that they have been published “with appropriate prominence” by the publication concerned.
ADJ NAME OF PUBLICATION DATE DATE PAGE ISSUED PUBLISHED 1362 Sydney Star Observer 3.8.07 9.8.07 14 1363 Holiday Coast Pictorial 3.8.07 - + Port Macquarie News 11 January 2008 p8 1364 Bundaberg NewsMail 3.8.07 9.8.07 5 1365 Australian (media section) 3.8.07 9.8.07 32 1366 Bunbury Mail 14.9.07 19.9.07 36 1367 The West Australian 14.9.07 25.9.07 10 1368 The Courier Mail 14.9.07 26.9.07 14 1369 The Canberra Times 14.9.07 19.9.07 2 + The Australian 22-23 September 2007 p9 1369 The Sydney Morning Herald 14.9.07 24.9.07 7 1370 The Daily Telegraph 26.10.07 1.11.07 26 1371 The Australian (media section) 26.10.07 1.11.07 34 1372 The Sunday Mail 26.10.07 4.11.07 26 1373 The Perth Voice 26.10.07 date unknown 1374 The Sydney Morning Herald 7.12.07 13.12.07 4 1375 The Australian (media section) 7.12.07 13.12.07 32 + The Australian 7 December 2007, p14, opinion piece 1376 The Daily Telegraph 7.12.07 14.12.07 18 1377 The Daily Telegraph 7.12.07 15.12.07 15 1378 The Gold Coast Bulletin 7.12.07 13.12.07 21 1379 Albany Advertiser 7.12.07 27.12.07 4 1380 The Australian 1.2.08 7.2.08 39 1381 The Hobart Mercury 1.2.08 7.2.08 16 1382 The Australian 1.2.08 7.2.08 39 1383 The Sydney Morning Herald 1.2.08 7.2.08 online + The Jeweller, February 2008 1384 The Daily Telegraph 17.3.08 21.3.08 14 1385 The Courier-Mail 17.3.08 22.3.08 4 1386 The Daily Telegraph 17.3.08 22.3.08 24 1387 The Australian (media section) 17.3.08 20.3.08 36 1388 Nam Uc Tuan Bao 2.5.08 16.5.08 42 1389 Australian Motorcycle News 2.5.08 28.5.08 16 1390 The Age 2.5.08 8.5.08 10 1391 Bribie Weekly 2.5.08 9.5.08 8 1392 The Australian (media section) 13.6.08 26.6.08 34 1393 The Central Telegraph 13.6.08 20.6.08 5 1394 The Stawell Times-News 13.6.08 20.6.08 2 1395 Albany Weekender 13.6.08 19.6.08 2 1396 The Northern Star 13.6.08 19.6.08 10
45 Australian Press Council Annual Report 2007-2008
Adjudications Complaints and adjudications 1976 - 2008 Complaints Year complaints complaints complaints adjudi- year by year received mediated or adjudicated cations withdrawn issued Subject index 1976-7 78 32 23 19 1977-8 135 67 18 17 1978-9 164 67 28 25 1979-80 216 126 30 23 1980-1 233 114 25 19 1981-2 251 97 31 30 1982-3 307 108 40 28 1983-4 310 80 39 37 1984-5 323 47 60 41 1985-6 305 83 97 49 1986-7 298 85 73 49 1987-8 184 65 48 35 1988-9 205 54 45 34 1989-90 233 89 49 40 1990-91 345 134 59 57 1991-2 421 115 85 68 1992-3 429 122 126 79 1993-4 406 165 113 84 1994-5 416 167 86 65 1995-6 413 164 95 71 1996-7 399 164 82 61 1997-8 434 179 76 49 1998-9 410 166 77 58 1999-2000 403 176 66 47 2000-1 413 177 65 42 2001-2 390 184 70 44 2002-3 367 169 51 32 2003-4 417 189 75 40 2004-5 426 205 88 48 2005-6 420 218 61 30 2006-7 421 191 74 40 2007-8 457 200 73 35 10629 4199 (39.5%) 2028 (19.1%) 1396
Of the 1396 adjudications issued to the end of the reporting year, 590 (42.3 per cent) have upheld the complaint in whole or part, 757 (54.2 per cent) have dismissed the complaints, and 49 (3.5 per cent) have neither upheld nor dismissed the complaint or were a statement of general principles
Index to Complaints Adjudicated Bad Taste: 1374 Bias: 1393 Censor; suppression: 1393 Ethical standards breached: 1362, 1369, 1374, 1376, 1389, 1390 False reporting: 1389 Headline, false or misleading: 1368, 1373, 1382, 1384 Imbalance, inadequate coverage: 1362, 1363, 1364, 1365, 1366, 1367, 1371, 1372, 1379, 1380, 1381, 1383, 1385, 1392, 1394 Inaccuracy, misrepresentation: 1363, 1364, 1367, 1371, 1372, 1373, 1377, 1378, 1379, 1381, 1382, 1383, 1387, 1392, 1396 Invasion of privacy: 1375, 1377, 1386 Letters and statements, non-publication or editing: 1391 Offensive coverage: 1388 Racism, religious disparagement: 1369, 1375, 1382, 1384, 1388 Unfair treatment: 1363, 1366, 1370, 1380, 1382, 1387, 1390, 1393, 1394, 1395, 1396 46 Annual Report 2007-2008 Australian Press Council
Complaints and adjudication Complaints stats number received state of origin statistics 2007-2008 made by
Complaints received 2007/8 2006/7 Total 1988/2007
Carried forward from previous period 31 49 36 Complaints 457 421 7424 Letters 337 316 6328
From complainants in 2007/8 %age 2006/7 %age 1988/2007 %age 2007/8 2006/7 1988/2007
New South Wales 101 30 102 32.3 2196 34.7 Victoria 66 19.6 62 19.6 1479 23.4 Queensland 71 21.1 57 18 1086 17.2 Western Australia 36 10.7 35 11.1 519 8.2 South Australia 23 6.8 20 6.3 442 7 Tasmania 15 4.4 18 5.7 242 3.8 ACT 14 4.1 12 3.8 204 3.2 Northern Territory 5 1.5 4 1.3 115 1.8 Overseas 6 1.8 6 1.9 45 0.7
Total 337 100 316 100 6328 100
Made by 2007/8 %age 2006/7 %age 1988/2007 %age 2007/8 2006/7 1988/2007
Individuals 196 58.2 173 54.7 3835 60.6 Professionals 15 4.4 28 8.9 448 7.1 Associations/Organisations 13 3.8 16 5.1 524 8.3 Companies/Businesses 19 5.6 16 5.1 207 3.3 Institutions/Public Bodies 4 1.2 3 0.9 81 1.3 Government Departments/Agencies 10 3 15 4.7 174 2.7 Local Councils/members 15 4.4 18 5.7 253 4 Religious groups 14 4.1 5 1.6 96 1.5 Aboriginal support groups/legal services 3 0.9 7 2.2 89 1.4 Ethnic Community Groups 8 2.4 2 0.6 95 1.5 Other lobby groups^ 19 5.6 11 3.5 11 0.2 Election Candidates/Politicians 14 4.1 10 3.2 215 3.4 Political parties 4 1.2 5 1.6 72 1.1 Unions 1 0.3 3 0.9 59 0.9 Solicitors (for clients)* 0 - 0 - 119 1.9 Publications 2 0.6 4 1.3 33 0.5 Anonymous 0 - 0 - 17 0.3
Total 337 316 100 6328 100
* Under new guidelines adopted by the Council in 1996, most complaints made by solicitors for clients are now dealt with as if they had been submitted by the client. ^ This new category was introduced in 2006-7 to distinguish those individuals who represent a community-based campaign groups, including anti-vaccination and pro-immigration campaigners.
47 Australian Press Council Annual Report 2007-2008
Complaints stats About 2007/8 %age 2006/7 %age 1988/2007 %age about 2007/8 2006/7 1988/2007 type of publication Abuse of press freedom 4 0.9 7 1.7 74 1 Advertising; advertorials 7 1.5 3 0.7 210 2.8 Bad Taste 6 1.3 7 1.7 103 1.4 Bias 18 3.9 13 3.1 387 5.2 Censorship; suppression of facts 13 2.9 5 1.2 247 3.3 Distortion 10 2.2 12 2.9 267 3.6 Ethical standards breached 28 6.1 28 6.6 463 6.3 False Reporting 13 2.9 13 3.1 383 5.2 Freedom of the press threatened 0 - 0 - 29 0.4 Headline, false or misleading 29 6.3 16 3.8 270 3.6 Imbalance; inadeq cover (inc no reply) 50 10.9 50 11.9 693 9.3 Inaccuracy; misrepresentation 89 19.5 72 17.1 1046 14.1 Invasion of privacy 25 5.5 26 6.2 403 5.4 Irresponsibility 14 3.1 17 4 279 3.8 Letters: non publication or editing 17 3.7 13 3.1 344 4.6 Offensive cartoons 3 0.7 5 1.2 118 1.6 Offensive coverage 33 7.2 30 7.1 553 7.4 Racism; religious disparagement 34 7.4 22 5.2 434 5.8 Sensationalism 7 1.5 11 2.6 129 1.7 Sexism 8 1.8 10 2.4 126 1.8 Unfair Treatment 47 10.3 61 14.4 785 10.6 Other (unclassifiable) 2 0.4 0 - 81 1.1
Total 457 100 421 100 7424 100
Against (type of publication) 2007/8 %age 2006/7 %age 1988/2007 %age 2007/8 2006/7 1988/2007
Metropolitan newspapers 193 42.2 210 50 3581 48.2 Regional daily newspapers 47 10.4 67 15.9 1041 14 Country newspapers 49 10.7 41 9.7 750 10.1 Suburban newspapers 32 7 28 6.6 570 7.7 National newspapers 64 14 35 8.3 515 6.9 Magazines (general interest) 12 2.6 11 2.6 416 5.6 Ethnic community press 4 0.9 3 0.7) ) 247 3.4 Special interest publications 12 2.6 10 2.4) On-line news sites^ 24 5.2 - - - Rural publications 9 2 3 0.7 17 0.2 Non-specific; other 11 2.4 13 3.1 287 3.9
Total 457 421 100 7424 100
* Until 1994/5, the ethnic press and special interest publications were considered as one group for statistical purposes. They are now considered separately. ^ Category added in 2007-2008 to reflect the number of complaints arising solely from publication on members’ news sites.
48 Annual Report 2007-2008 Australian Press Council
Complaints were disposed by Complaints stats 2007/8 %age 2006/7 %age 1988/2007 %age 2007/8 2006/7 1988/2007 how disposed of adjudications Refused as inappropriate 72 16.3 82 18.7 1064 14.3 Referred to other organisations 30 6.8 16 3.6 371 5 Withdrawn for legal action 26 5.9 23 5.2 350 4.7 Not followed up 37 8.4 53 12.1 1098 14.8 Withdrawn after correspondence 106 24 97 22.1 1559 21 Mediation 94 21.3 94 21.4 1472 19.8 By press release 0 - 0 - 9 0.1 By adjudication 731 16.6 742 16.9 14433 19.4 Other action 3 0.7 0 - 66 0.8
Total disposed of 441 100 439 100 7429 100
Carried forward to next period 47 31 31
Notes for 2007-2008: 1. 24 upheld; 10 upheld in part; 37 dismissed; 2 other. Notes for 2006-2007: 2. 25 upheld; 16 upheld in part; 33 dismissed; 0 other. Notes for 1988-2007: 3. 403 upheld; 210 upheld in part; 743 dismissed; 26 other
Adjudications 2007/8 %age 2006/7 %age 1988/2007 %age 2007/8 2006/7 1988/2007
Complaints upheld 11 31.4 11 27.5 253 25.6 Complaints upheld in part 5 14.3 8 20.0 152 15.3 Upheld in whole or part 16 45.7 19 47.5 405 40.9 Complaints dismissed 18 51.4 21 52.5 562 56.8 Neither upheld nor dismissed 1 2.9 0 - 23 2.3
Number of adjudications 35 100 40 100 990 100
Note: The Council issued 35 adjudications which dealt with 73 separate complaints as noted immediately above. Some of these adjudications dealt with complaints from more than one party about the same material and, in some cases, one complainant made complaints about two or more newspapers and these were dealt with by the Council in the one adjudication. A third case is where an adjudication dealt with two separate complaints (say, invasion of privacy and offensive coverage) in the same determination.
49 Australian Press Council Annual Report 2007-2008
Jack R Herman Executive Complaints not adjudicated Secretary On page 24, in discussing adjudications, this report noted a small percentage of complaints progressed through the complaints procedures (published in the Council’s information booklet, Objects, Principles and Complaints Procedure, available from the office and posted on the Council’s website at: http://www.presscouncil.org,au/pcsite/complaints/process.html) to the adjudication stage in 2007-2008. In 2007-2008, this figure was 16.6 per cent. This figure can be compared with previous years, in the table on page 46 of this report. Of the remaining complaints, some were refused, some referred to another body and others withdrawn for legal action. Details The Executive of the number and percentage in each category can be found in the table on “Complaints were Secretary has disposed by” on page 49. 8.4 per cent of complainants did not follow-up a request from the also been Secretariat for more detail on their complaints. And then there are those complainants who were given a happy to let their complaint rest after receiving the publication’s response to the complaint and discretion by those whose complaints were conciliated either by the Council Secretariat or by a Public Member the Council to of the Council. 45.3 per cent of all complaints ended in this way - to the satisfaction of all actively parties. pursue The complaints process gives the Executive Secretary a discretion to refuse a complaint in a publications number of circumstances. Previous annual reports have discussed many of these, and readers seeking are directed to the Council’s website, where earlier reports on “Complaints not Adjudicated” are action from archived (http://www.presscouncil.org.au/pcsite/complaints/notadj.html). The most important them that of these relates to ‘third party’ complaints. The Council has decided that: might satisfy The Executive Secretary will, as a rule, reject as complaints, matters from disinterested parties: a •which raise matters likely to lead to the further invasion of the privacy of those reported on; complainant. In cases •which appear to the Executive Secretary to raise largely trivial or frivolous concerns; or where it •which do not raise a significant breach of the principles seems to the Complainants who feel aggrieved about the rejection of their complaint can appeal the Executive Executive Secretary’s decision to the Council’s Complaints Committee, which decides whether to accept Secretary the matter for processing. In exceptionally rare circumstances, publications can appeal the that such acceptance of what they see as an unfair complaint. action is not The Executive Secretary has also been given a discretion by the Council to actively pursue only publications seeking action from them that might satisfy a complainant. In cases where it seems warranted, to the Executive Secretary that such action is not only warranted, but called for in the but called for circumstances, the Council has asked him to be more direct in such requests to publications. in the The figures on page 46 demonstrate that publications are nowadays far more ready to offer circumstances, settlements in a greater number of cases. These settlements, and those agreed to during the Council conciliations of complaints, are the often unreported successes of the Council’s complaints process. has asked him to be more direct in such Conciliated complaints requests to A number of the complainants conciliated successfully by the secretariat, or by an independent publications. member of the Council, and the sorts of settlements arrived at, are outlined in each edition of the APC News, and these are published on the Council’s website.
50 Annual Report 2007-2008 Australian Press Council
Jack R Herman Changes in Principles and Procedures Executive Secretary Review of the Statement of Principles One of the major topics for the 2008 Planning Day is a review of the current Statement of Principles. The Council last reviewed the Principles in 1996, although it has made changes to principles five and six since then. The Council called for submissions from the reading public, and from journalists and editors, as to any changes to the Principles that might be made to make them more generally useful as a yardstick for dealing with complaints. Submissions received were to be tabled at the Planning Day.
Online The Council has received notice from ninemsn, a major on-line news publisher, that it is publicly committing to the Privacy Standards for the Print Media (see page 53). Under the federal Privacy Act, media organisations can claim an exemption for acts of journalism, provided such organisations are publicly committed to a set of privacy standards. For some years, the Privacy Standards for the Print Media have covered the on-line news sites of the Council’s publisher members but ninemsn is the first solely on-line publisher to commit to the standards. For some years, the Guidelines Privacy The Council issues guidelines from time to time. These are, in essence, amplifications on particular Standards for issues arising from the Council’s Statement of Principles. The guidelines apply the Principles to the the Print practice of reporting and are intended to guide the press on how it should report certain matters. Media have These guidelines are not intended to be prescriptive instructions to the press but act as a series of covered the advisories on the application of the Principles that the Council seeks the co-operation of editors in on-line news maintaining. A list of the extant guidelines (and links to them) can be found on the Council’s website sites of the at http://www.presscouncil.org.au/pcsite/activities/gprguide.html. Council’s Generic images publisher members but When generic or library photos of groups of children are used to illustrate news stories, do they carry ninemsn is with them implications that the children in the image have been subject to the events in the story they illustrate? Are different standards used by some newspapers for reporting matters in Indigenous the first communities? Are images posted to social webpages such as FaceBook in the public domain and solely on-line should newspapers be able to access them? Following the publication of Adjudication No. 1369 publisher to (page 28), the Council received several letters commenting on the finding about generic images in commit to the the adjudication. The Council has, as a result, asked the secretariat to draw up a paper on questions standards. related to images of children in newspapers and table it at the December meeting. The paper discussed whether the Press Council needed to issue a separate guideline on the use of generic images of children. At its December meeting, the Council agreed that no new guideline was necessary and that instead the Council needed only to remind publishers of their responsibilities under existing guidelines. No alterations were made in 2007-2008 to the existing guidelines, nor were any new guidelines issued.
The current Statement of Principles follows, together with the Privacy Standards for the Print Media and a summary of the Council’s Complaints Procedures. The principles are posted on the Council’s website at: http://www.presscouncil.org.au/pcsite/complaints/sop.html; the Standards are at: http://www.presscouncil.org.au/pcsite/complaints/priv_stand.html; and the Complaints Procedures are at: http://www.presscouncil.org.au/pcsite/complaints/process.html.
51 Australian Press Council Annual Report 2007-2008
Statement of Principles
To help the public and the press, the Australian Press Council has laid down the broad principles to which it is committed. First, the freedom of the press to publish is the freedom of the people to be informed. This is the justification for upholding press freedom as an essential feature of a democratic society. This freedom, won in centuries of struggle against political and commercial interests, includes the right of a newspaper to publish what it reasonably considers to be news, without fear or favour, and the right to comment fairly upon it. Second, the freedom of the press is important more because of the obligation it entails towards the people than because of the rights it gives to the press. Freedom of the press carries with it an equivalent responsibility to the public. Liberty does not mean licence. Thus, in dealing with complaints, the Council will give first and dominant consideration to what it perceives to be in the public interest. The Council does not lay down rules by which publications should govern themselves. However, in considering complaints, the Council will have regard to these general principles. 1. Newspapers and magazines (“publications”) should not publish what they know or could reasonably be expected to know is false, or fail to take reasonable steps to check the accuracy of what they report. 2. A publication should make amends for publishing information that is found to be harmfully inaccurate by printing, promptly and with appropriate prominence, such retraction, correction, explanation or apology as will neutralise the damage so far as possible. 3. Readers of publications are entitled to have news and comment presented to them honestly and fairly, and with respect for the privacy and sensibilities of individuals. However, the right to privacy should not prevent publication of matters of public record or obvious or significant public interest. Rumour and unconfirmed reports, if published at all, should be identified as such. 4. News obtained by dishonest or unfair means, or the publication of which would involve a breach of confidence, should not be published unless there is an over-riding public interest. 5. Publications are free to advocate their own views and publish the views of others on controversial topics, as long as readers are readily able to recognise what is fact and what is opinion. Relevant facts should not be misrepresented or suppressed, headlines and captions should fairly reflect the tenor of an article and readers should be advised of any manipulation of images and potential conflicts of interest. 6. Publications have a wide discretion in publishing material, but they should have regard for the sensibilities of their readers, particularly when the material, such as photographs, could reasonably be expected to cause offence. Public interest should be the criterion and, on occasion, explained editorially. 7. Publications should not place any gratuitous emphasis on the race, religion, nationality, colour, country of origin, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, illness, or age of an individual or group. Nevertheless, where it is relevant and in the public interest, publications may report and express opinions in these areas. 8. Where individuals or groups are singled out for criticism, the publication should ensure fairness and balance in the original article. Failing that, it should provide a reasonable and swift opportunity for a balancing response in the appropriate section of the publication. 9. Where the Council issues an adjudication, the publication concerned should prominently print the adjudication. The Council strives to ensure that its adjudications on complaints reflect both the conscience of the press and the legitimate expectations of the public. Note: For the purposes of these principles, ‘public interest’ is defined as involving a matter capable of affecting the people at large so they might be legitimately interested in, or concerned about, what is going on, or what may happen to them or to others.
52 Annual Report 2007-2008 Australian Press Council
Print Media Privacy Standards
Underlying Principles Principle 3 of the Press Council’s Statement of Principles states, with respect to privacy: Readers of publications are entitled to have news and comment presented to them honestly and fairly, and with respect for the privacy and sensibilities of individuals. However, the right to privacy should not prevent publication of matters of public record or obvious or significant public interest. The need to balance respect for privacy with standards that recognise freedom of speech and of the press is recognised by the Privacy Act 1988. The Privacy Act provides an exemption for acts done or practices engaged in by a media organisation in the course of journalism, if the media organisation is publicly committed to observing standards that deal with privacy in the context of the activities of a media organisation, and those standards have been published in writing either by the organisation or a body representing a class of media organisations. These Standards deal with privacy in the context of the activities of media organisations. They elaborate on the Press Council’s Statement of Principles, and are published by the Press Council for the purposes of the Privacy Act exemption.
Application of these Standards These Standards apply to ‘personal information’, which is information or an opinion (including forming part of a database) whether true or not, and whether recorded in a material form or not, about an individual whose identity is apparent or can reasonably be ascertained from the information. These Standards also recognise, as does the Privacy Act, that the media have a duty to inform the public on matters of significant public interest. For the purposes of these Standards, ‘public interest’ is defined as involving a matter capable of affecting the people at large so they might be legitimately interested in, or concerned about, what is going on, or what may happen to them or to others. The media organisations, and the relevant publications, which are committed to these Standards are listed in the Schedule found on the Council’s website.
1. Collection of personal information In gathering news, journalists should seek personal information only in the public interest. In doing so, journalists should not unduly intrude on the privacy of individuals and should show respect for the dignity and sensitivity of people encountered in the course of gathering news. In accordance with Principle 4 of the Council’s Statement of Principles, news obtained by unfair or dishonest means should not be published unless there is an overriding public interest. Generally, journalists should identify themselves as such. However, journalists and photographers may at times need to operate surreptitiously to expose crime, significantly anti-social conduct, public deception or some other matter in the public interest. Public figures necessarily sacrifice their right to privacy, where public scrutiny is in the public interest. However, public figures do not forfeit their right to privacy altogether. Intrusion into their right to privacy must be related to their public duties or activities.
2. Use and disclosure of personal information Personal information gathered by journalists and photographers should only be used for the purpose for which it was intended. A person who supplies personal information should have a reasonable expectation that it will be used for the purpose for which it was collected. Some personal information, such as addresses or other identifying details, may enable others to intrude on the privacy and safety of individuals who are the subject of news coverage, and their families. To the extent lawful and practicable, a media organisation should only disclose sufficient personal information to identify the persons being reported in the news, so that these risks can be reasonably avoided. 53 Australian Press Council Annual Report 2007-2008
Privacy standards 3. Quality of personal information A media organisation should take reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information it collects is accurate, complete and up-to-date.
4. Security of personal information A media organisation should take reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information it holds is protected from misuse, loss, or unauthorised access.
5. Anonymity of sources All persons who provide information to media organisations are entitled to seek anonymity. The identity of confidential sources should not be revealed, and where it is lawful and practicable, a media organisation should ensure that any personal information which it maintains derived from such sources does not identify the source.
6. Correction, fairness and balance In accordance with Principle 8 of the Council’s Statement of Principles, where individuals are singled out for criticism, the publication should ensure fairness and balance in the original article. Failing that, the media organisation should provide a reasonable and swift opportunity for a balancing response in the appropriate section of the publication. A media organisation should make amends for publishing any personal information that is found to be harmfully inaccurate, in accordance with Principle 2 of the Council’s Statement of Principles. The media organisation should also take steps to correct any of its records containing that personal information, so as to avoid a harmful inaccuracy being repeated.
7. Sensitive personal information In accordance with Principle 7 of the Council’s Statement of Principles, media organisations should not place any gratuitous emphasis on the categories of sensitive personal information listed in Principle 7, except where it is relevant and in the public interest to report and express opinions in these areas. Members of the public caught up in newsworthy events should not be exploited. A victim or bereaved person has the right to refuse or terminate an interview or photographic session at any time. Unless otherwise restricted by law or court order, open court hearings are matters of public record and can be reported by the press. Such reports need to be fair and balanced. They should not identify relatives or friends of people accused or convicted of crime unless the reference to them is necessary for the full, fair and accurate reporting of the crime or subsequent legal proceedings.
8. Complaints The Council will receive and deal with complaints from person or persons affected about possible breaches of these Standards in the same way as it receives and deals with complaints about possible breaches of its Statement of Principles. Where the Council issues an adjudication in relation to these Standards, the publication concerned must prominently print the adjudication.
These procedures apply to those media organisations listed in the Schedule on the Council’s website.
54 Annual Report 2007-2008 Australian Press Council
Complaints Procedure
If you have a complaint against a newspaper or periodical or the news reporting on a website of a Council member, which appears to have breached the Council's Statement of Principles or the code of privacy standards, you should first take it up with the editor or other senior representative of the publication concerned. If the complaint is not resolved to your satisfaction, and it involves the editorial or article sections of a periodical or website (and does not deal with advertising or the commercial operations of the publication), you may refer it to the Australian Press Council. A complaint must be specific, in writing, and accompanied by a cutting, hardcopy print, clear photostat or html attachment of the matter complained of, with supporting documents or evidence, if any. Complaints must be lodged within 60 days of initial publication. The Council provides a complaint form for complainants to use. The Council asks that complainants summarise the main thrust of their complaints in about 300 words, and then supply other supporting material that will assist the Council in understanding all their concerns. The Council will not hear a complaint subject to legal action or possible legal action, unless the complainant is willing to sign a waiver of the right to such action. On receipt of the complaint, the Council secretariat will first try to arrange an amicable settlement of the matter. Over 40 per cent of complaints are settled in this way at an early stage of the process. If such a settlement is not possible, and the complaint is accepted, a formal response from the publication will be sought and sent to the complainant. If not satisfied by the response, the complainant can, with the agreement of the newspaper, seek a conciliation hearing conducted by a Public Member of the Council or can immediately refer the matter to the Press Council for adjudication. If a matter is sent to the Council, the complainant and publication have the option of attending a hearing of the Complaints Committee which makes a recommendation to the Council on the matter. The Complaints Committee consists of seven members of the Council, with a majority of public members (including the Chairman). The recently revised and reprinted guidelines on the complaints procedures are available in the form of a booklet and on the Council’s website. They include information on the Council’s preference that lawyers not be involved and on the very limited situations in which the Council will consider appeals. The procedures were rewritten in July 2002 to enforce shorter response times and a few other matters, such as the Council's oversight of its members' news reporting websites. A further review at the 2008 Planning Day is still before the Council as this report goes to press.
Address complaints or inquiries to: The Executive Secretary The Australian Press Council Suite 10.02, 117 York Street SYDNEY NSW 2000 For information or advice telephone (02) 9261 1930; callers from outside Sydney can ring on Free Call (1800) 025 712.
Information and advice is also available via the Internet. The Council’s website is at http://www.presscouncil.org.au
The Council’s email addresses are: [email protected] or [email protected]
The booklet, Objects, Principles and Complaints Procedures, which also sets out the Privacy Standards for the Print Media, is available free from the office or through the website, where it is posted as a pdf.
55 Australian Press Council Annual Report 2007-2008
Jack R Herman Other Council activities
Administration and activities
Administration The day-to-day affairs of the Council are handled by the Secretariat. This is headed by the Executive Secretary who is responsible to the Council and, between meetings, to the Chairman. The current Executive Secretary is Jack Herman who has been in the position since April 1994. He is assisted by Deborah Kirkman, the Office Manager, who handles many aspects of the complaints process, including some conciliation work. This year Deb again co-ordinated the Council’s Case Studies Seminars, both at universities and with newspaper companies. Press Council Office Manager Deborah Kirkman celebrated her fifteenth anniversary with the Council at the April/May meeting. Among her many roles, Deb is primarily responsible for the processing At the time of of complaints and their mediation, once they have been accepted for processing. writing, as it ends its After a brief period of employment, Emma Boreland received an offer of alternative appointment. thirty-second The Council was sorry to lose her but recognised that she wanted a position within the print year, the media industry itself. Subsequently, Melanie Maroun was employed as the Assistant to the Executive Secretary and is likely to be the first point of contact in the office for most inquiries. Council has The Council employs a Policy Officer, Inez Ryan, who is now a full-time employee. Inez is formally dealt primarily a researcher in areas of media law and freedom of speech issues, as well as ethical with over issues pertaining to the news media. Inez also acts as the administrative aide to the Council’s 10,500 Policy Development Committee. The Executive Secretary again acknowledges the contribution complaints made by the Council’s staff to the success of the Council’s operations. (10,629 to be exact), of The Council office tries speedily to deal with inquiries from students. It receives many of these which 4,200 a week and makes its Library available to those who can get into the Sydney office. The Council’s Internet site has facilitated easier access to information for many students and it is to this site have been that most are now directed in the first place. mediated or otherwise Complaints about the ethical behaviour of newspapers and magazines continue to keep the office settled to the staff busy. At the time of writing, as it ends its thirty-second year, the Council has formally dealt satisfaction with over 10,500 complaints (10,629 to be exact), of which 4,200 have been mediated or otherwise of the settled to the satisfaction of the complainant. It has adjudicated over 2,000 of the complaints, complainant. issuing 1,396 adjudications, of which over 42.3 per cent have upheld the complaint in whole or part. Additionally it has sent out over 280 formal press releases or reporting guidelines, published 31 annual reports and 82 issues of the APC News. And, in 2007, it published a Supplement to the 2006 State of the News Print Media in Australia report, posted on-line as a part of the Council’s website, and available for download as a pdf.
Complaints times The Council has made it a priority to speed up the processing of complaints. In 2007-2008, it averaged 26.8 days between receipt and closing of those files that were dealt with other than by adjudication (compared to 28 days the previous year). The means by category were: Closed by average Refused 8.9 days Referred 4.1 days Withdrawn/Legal 51 days Not followed up 28.3 days Withdrawn after correspondence 36.8 days Mediated 34.8 days For complaints that went through the process to adjudication by the Council, the average time from receipt to adjudication (remembering that the Council meets every six weeks) was 87.14 days. 56 Annual Report 2007-2008 Australian Press Council
The Internet and the Council’s website Admin and activities The Council maintains a website (http://www.presscouncil.org.au) primarily as an information site, although it also allows for the submission of on-line complaints direct to the Council through a form available on that site. The site is searchable by keyword. The State of the News Print Media in Australia reports are posted to the website. The website now manages over 1,300 separate files, searchable by keyword, and is linked to the AustLII database, which archives all Press Council adjudications, including early ones not yet posted to the website. The Executive Secretary had written to a number of websites earlier in the year inviting them to come under the Council’s jurisdiction and was awaiting responses.
Council Meetings The Council held seven Council meetings in Sydney in 2007-2008 and one meeting in Wellington, NZ, with the New Zealand Press Council. The Press Council held its meetings in Wellington on 13 and 14 March 2008. In addition to some informal contacts and a joint dinner, the two Councils Amongst the discussed more formally a number of matters of mutual interest. issues raised One impetus for the visit to New Zealand was a recent review of the operations of the NZ Press and discussed Council. The review had recommended a number of changes, many of which would see that NZ were Council operate more like the Australian Press Council in a number of areas. The Chairs of the questions two Councils, Professor Ken McKinnon and the Hon. Barry Paterson, chaired the joint meeting. about Amongst the issues raised and discussed were questions about whether dissents and minority whether reports should be included in adjudications; complaints’ hearings; the use and efficacy of the dissents and legal waiver; mediation; ways of dealing with vexatious complainants; and fast-track procedures. minority The two Councils also discussed the legal and political environments in their respective countries reports and the main threats to press freedom, as well as how they might assist other press/news councils should be in the Asia-Pacific region. included in adjudications; Joint meeting of the two Councils complaints’ hearings; the use and efficacy of the legal waiver; mediation; ways of dealing with vexatious complainants; and fast-track procedures.
Back row: Rex Jory, Jack Herman, Clive Lind, Phil Dickson, Keith Lees, Aroha Beck, Sam North, Ruth Buddicorn, Adrian McGregor, Bruce Morgan Middle rows: Alan Samson, John Gardner, John Fleetwood, Sharon Hill, Ros Guy, Lisa Scaffidi, Mary Major, Cheryl Attenborough, Lynn Scott, Bob Osburn, Deb Kirkman, Prue Innes, Wendy Mead, Peter Jeanes, Alan Kennedy, Brenton Holmes, Gary Evans Front row: Kathie Sampson, H P Lee, Emma Boreland, Pam Walkley, John Dunnet, Ken McKinnon, Barry Paterson, Inez Ryan, Penny Harding, Denis McLean
57 Australian Press Council Annual Report 2007-2008
Admin and While in Wellington, the two Councils held a joint public meeting, The Press and the Right to activities Know Under Siege: Are press freedoms under threat? Under the chairing of the Hon. Justice Tony Randerson, Chief High Court Judge, the speakers included Emeritus Professor John Burrows, QC, co-author of Media Law in New Zealand, Professor Ken McKinnon, and the Hon. Barry Paterson, QC, Chairman, New Zealand Press Council. Meeting with the Indonesian Press Council At the May meeting, the Council met with members of the Indonesian Press Council then visiting Sydney. Emma Walters at the University of Sydney’s Research Institute for Asia and the Pacific organised a visit by the secretary of the Indonesian Press Council, Lukas Luwarso, and other members of the Council, and sought funds from the Australia Indonesia Institute and other bodies for this purpose The visit involved Lukas Luwarso spending some time in the office discussing There was a administration matters with Jack Herman, the Australian Council’s Executive Secretary, and detailed attending a Council (and committee) meetings. discussion As it turned out, five members of the Indonesian Press Council, led by Vice Chairman, Dr. with members Sabam Leo Batubara, travelled to Australia in April/May 2008. While here they met with the of the IPC on Australian Press Council and attended committee and Council meetings. Other members present matters of were Bambang Harymurti, Wina Armada Sukardi, Wikrama Iryans Abidin and Abdullah Alamudi. mutual Also present was the Council’s secretary, Lukas Luwarso. There was a detailed discussion with interest, members of the IPC on matters of mutual interest, including developments in Timor Leste and including threats to press freedom within Indonesia. Australian Press Council members sought details on developments the operations of the Indonesian Council and how its members were appointed. The IPC sought in Timor clarification of aspects of the Australian operations following their observations of, and Leste and participation in, the Complaints and Policy Development committees. After lunch, the Executive threats to Secretary met further with IPC Secretary Lukas Luwarso and member Abdullah Alamudi to press freedom discuss the administrative arrangements for the Council. within Indonesia.
The Indonesian Press Council delegation (Australian Press Council members, John Trevorrow and Sharon Hill in foreground).
58 Annual Report 2007-2008 Australian Press Council
During the discussions with the Indonesian Press Council, reference was made to court action Admin and being taken by Time magazine, seeking to reverse a large judgment in a defamation case brought activities by former Indonesian leader Suharto. The Council agreed to join the IPC in an amicus curiae brief related to this action.
Other meetings Conference The Council has jointly sponsored a public forum with the Centre for Media and Communications Law at Melbourne University. The Courts and the Media conference was held in Melbourne on Friday 27 July 2007. After a keynote address by Justice Philip Cummins, Associate Professor Andrew Kenyon delivered a paper on the incidence of suppression orders (with former Victorian courts public information officer Prue Innes acting as a commentator on the paper). The second session addressed the question of journalists’ sources. Solicitor Justin Quill read a prepared paper and comments were delivered by visiting US Professor Brian Murchison, Press Council member Chris McLeod and Fairfax executive Gail Hambly. The final session looked at the impacts the courts were having on Freedom of Information, with the 7 Network’s Michael McKinnon the paper speaker and Monash Associate Professor Moira Paterson the commentator. In October, The papers from the conference are available from the CMCL. the Council’s In October, the Council’s Chairman met with the Queensland Chief Justice and the Chief Justice Chairman met of the District Court to talk over matters of mutual interest. Access to court information and with the future action on suppression orders were discussed. Queensland Chief Justice and the Chief Planning Days 2008 Justice of the The Council planned its fourth triennial Planning Days for 31 July and 1 August. A report will be District Court given in the November News and next year’s annual report. to talk over matters of mutual Visitors interest. During the year, in addition to the Indonesian Press Council delegation noted above, the Council Access to received a number of visitors, including: court • in October 2007, a delegation of 14, headed by Hou Zhengxin, the Deputy Director information General of the General Administration of Press and Publication of the People’s Republic and future of China, visited the Council for discussions; action on • in early November, the Chairman, Cho Joon Hee, and members of the Korean Press suppression Arbitration Commission met with the Council’s Chairman and Executive Secretary; orders were • the Executive Secretary met with Jaelea Skinner from the Hunter Institute for Mental discussed. Health, who expressed some concern that, with a number of recent self-harm incidents, including a couple of celebrity cases, the previously high standards in the press for the reporting of suicide might be slipping; • in February 2008, the Executive Secretary met with advisers to the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, including Sophie Mitchell, Senator Conroy’s Communications Adviser, and Kathryn Ries. The meeting the groundwork for closer cooperation with the Ministry, while ensuring that the Minister was well aware of the Council’s independence from government control; • in April a delegation of editors and journalists from the Chinese regional press visited the Council for discussions. The delegation leader was Hou Jun, from the Shenzhen Daily, and there were 12 editors and journalists present, as well as a translator, Tracey Ma, and Jane Yao from Australia China Link, which organised the visit. Unlike previous delegations, mainly staffed by functionaries, this was a group of working journalists, and their questions were therefore much more practical and direct. • the Council hosted a press conference with two Chinese dissidents, Chen Ziming and Wang Juntao, organized by Foreign Correspondents’ Association at Press Council premises.
59 Australian Press Council Annual Report 2007-2008
Admin and Articles activities The Council’s Chairman had published an opinion piece in The West Australian, on published on December 15, 2007, under the headline, CCC must end Star Chamber tactics, related to apparent attempts by the WA Crime and Corruption Commission to conduct secret hearings in which journalists were interrogated with the aim of identifying the sources of leaks. Following the publication of remarks by AFP Commissioner Mick Keelty’s with respect to the role of the media in reporting courts in terrorism matters, an article by the Chairman was published in the Weekend Australian of 2-3 February under the headline, No Need to Muzzle Media. The Council’s Policy Officer wrote an article for the Gazette of Law and Journalism website on public interest whistle-blowers and what proposals for change should be considered by governments.
Annual Address 2008 The Annual Address was not held for 2008.
Research Last year’s Annual Report discussed the early development of the 2007 supplement to the State of the News Print Media in Australia. The main original research was analyses of the coverage Original of state elections in Queensland and Victoria, the former carried out at Charles Sturt University research, a and the latter at the University of South Australia. The Supplement was published online, with a media downloadable pdf version. A press release on the publication was issued in October 2007 (GPR content 281 on page 63). analysis of on The Council intends to publish a full report every two years, with the next one due in October the coverage 2008. Meetings to discuss the 2008 State of the News Print Media in Australia report were held of the in early 2008. The Council’s Policy Officer, Inez Ryan, was placed in charge of the project. Mohammed Original research, a media content analysis of on the coverage of the Mohammed Haneef story, Haneef story, was commissioned from Griffith University. A steering committee has drafted both a project was timeline and a content list, including a list of possible research topics for the report. As this commissioned report was written, the Council was discussing the format, and size, of the 2008 report. from Griffith The Council agreed to a request from the University of Wollongong, working with academics at University. A several other universities, for the Council’s co-operation, as an industry partner, in an application steering for an ARC linkage grant to conduct research into media coverage of vulnerable groups. Another committee proposal for an ARC linkage grant application came from the University of Sydney. The proposal has drafted refers to research on “news content sharing, repurposing, reuse and diversity in convergent both a project media markets”. The Press Council agreed to be a partner. timeline and a content list, including a Other bodies list of Warwick Costin has represented the Council on the Mindframe Media and Mental Health Project possible since its inception. This group has been responsible for the development of the Reporting Suicide research and Mental Illness resource book. In early 2008, Mr Costin retired from this role. The Council topics for the noted its thanks for his dedicated service to the project. report. Case Studies Seminars The Press Council case study seminars were established in 1994 as a means by which young journalists, and journalism students, could learn about the impact of ethical considerations on reporting by discussing the issues arising from complaints that the Council had adjudicated. A week or two prior to a seminar, each participant is provided with a book of case studies so that they can read and consider the material in advance. The case studies relate to issues such as invasion of privacy, offensive coverage, photographs, headlines, racism and uncorrected inaccuracies. Each case study is based on actual cases and uses material derived from the complainant’s material and the publication’s response. 60 Annual Report 2007-2008 Australian Press Council
Press Council members and staff from the Secretariat present the seminars, usually during lecture Admin and time in the various journalism courses. At a seminar the presenters offer an overview of the activities Press Council’s history, functions and complaints procedure and then proceed to consideration ... of the cases. This takes the form of an interactive simulation of the complaints process. The aim is to give participants the opportunity to consider and apply ethical standards of reporting to real-life situations. One such seminar was held recently at Monash University and a student there, Elisa Dimas, submitted this report. What do you get when you throw journalism students, Australian Press Council members and contentious photographs, articles and the public complaints about them all together? A healthy and enlightening debate about media ethics, that’s what. And that’s exactly what occurred on 29 August when more than 30 media ethics students attended an Australian Press Council seminar at Monash Caulfield. Led by Council Vice-Chairman, Professor Hoong Phun Lee, the seminar invited students to step into the shoes of Council members by debating contentious ethical issues in real-life complaints He argued and adjudications. Prue Innes, the Council’s newest member, provided insight from a former journalist’s perspective. that despite critics The seminar emphasised the highly subjective and challenging nature of adjudicating complaints, especially where personal tragedy and privacy are concerned, and allowed students to question questioning their own findings as well as those of the Council. Case studies included Adjudication No. 1119 in the use of a which the Council upheld complaints against The Cairns Post regarding the front-page photo of a regulatory murder scene in Ravenshoe, a small town just outside Cairns. This was contrasted with complaints body with no against depictions of foreign carnage, such as The Sydney Morning Heralds publication of large disciplinary colour photographs showing the grisly aftermath of a Tel Aviv bomb attack. The examples raised questions about when an individual’s interest outweighs the public interest and the difference powers, the between publishing photographs of foreign carnage and local tragedy. Council’s Students were encouraged to explore the intricacies of what constitutes ethical and unethical power lay in media practice and grapple with the challenge of providing a definitive finding. its ability to Professor Lee also discussed the Council’s role in the Australian media industry. He argued that affect despite critics questioning the use of a regulatory body with no disciplinary powers, the Council’s journalists’ power lay in its ability to affect journalists’ standing amongst their peers. “The notion of the APC as standing a ‘toothless tiger’ doesn’t stand up under scrutiny,” he said. amongst their Professor Lee commended the students’ participation, saying he was impressed by the level of peers. “The debate and discussion. notion of the The seminar was organised by Shane O’Neil of the journalism section of the School of Humanities, APC as a Communications and Social Sciences. ‘toothless The final report on the 2007 series and a summary of the review of the case studies has been tiger’ doesn’t discussed by the Council, which endorsed the continuation of the case studies for 2008. It stand up commended the work done by Office Manager, Deborah Kirkman, who co-ordinates the seminars. under scrutiny,” he Prize said. The Council discontinued the essay competition in 2005 and, instead, liaised with university journalism faculties and departments to provide a series of prizes for outstanding course-work within those faculties. Sixteen universities took up the Council’s offer for such prizes, to be presented either for specifically set essays or for performance in coursework in subjects related to the ethics of journalism. In 2007-2008, prizes to the value of $300 have been offered to, or awarded at: The University of Queensland, Sunshine Coast University, University of Southern Queensland, Bond University, the Queensland University of Technology, University of Sydney, University of Western Sydney, University of Technology Sydney, Charles Sturt University, Wollongong University, Newcastle University, University of South Australia, Edith Cowan University, Curtin University, the University of Tasmania and the University of Canberra
61 Australian Press Council Annual Report 2007-2008
Admin and Publications activities The Australian Press Council continued to publish and distribute: GPR • a quarterly Australian Press Council News, with articles of interest to the press and 280 reports on the Council’s activities; and • an Annual Report . In 2006, it published the initial State of the News Print Media in Australia report in both booklet form and on-line. In late 2007 it published on-line a Supplement to the report, updating developments in the year since the report was published (see above). A full list of the available publications follows on page 65. Press Council publications are now sent by email to those who ask for delivery in that form. If you want the News and Annual Report sent direct to you (in pdf format), please send an email to [email protected] with subject line News by email and you will be placed on the direct email list. The News is also provided to the Informit on-line publication site at RMIT for posting, as a part of its service. Informit has also made available back issues of the News.
General Press Releases The proposed The Press Council issues press releases from time to time. Some are guideline statements on amendment reporting. There were eight releases issued in 2006-2007; they cover a range of matters of to relevance to the Council. Over the years the Council has used press releases to issue guidelines classification on reporting. There were no new guidelines this year. All extant reporting guidelines are posted laws, on the Council’s website. currently before the General Press Releases 2007-2008 Senate, aimed at restricting Classification changes go too far the General Press Release No 280 (August 2007) publication of material that “The proposed amendment to classification laws, currently before the Senate, aimed at restricting ‘advocates’ the publication of material that ‘advocates’ terrorism, are unnecessary, dangerous and inimical terrorism, are to essential freedom of communication. It is a further egregious example of the government’s unnecessary, consistent tendency to legislate limits on the public’s access to information,” says Professor Ken dangerous McKinnon, the Chairman of the Australian Press Council. and inimical The government has already demonstrated that it has at its disposal powers more than sufficient to essential to restrict dangerous publications, including laws against sedition, advocacy of violence, racial freedom of vilification and various provisions within the Criminal Code and anti-terrorism legislation. The communication. issuing of an “RC” classification by the Classification Review Board against Defence of the It is a further Muslim Lands and Join the Caravan in 2006 clearly shows that the present scheme leads to bans egregious on public access to material that advocates terrorism. In fact, the current classification powers example of are so sweeping that they even allowed the banning of Dr Philip Nitschke’s, The Peaceful Pill the Handbook, action well beyond any desirable public restrictions on the free flow of information. government’s The new proposals, if enacted, will not only put material that directly advocates terrorism outside consistent the law but also anything considered by authorities to indirectly advocate terrorism. Opinion or tendency to commentary upon the news, or material that analyses the underlying causes of terrorism, may legislate still be banned, given the narrow scope of the exemptions in the Bill. There is a justifiable fear limits on the that such material may be incorrectly regarded as “indirectly advocating” terrorism, which would public’s inevitably lessen the availability of information to the public. access to Moreover, the fact that the standard of proof in classification will be “on the balance of information ... probabilities”, a much lower standard than the normal criminal requirement of beyond reasonable doubt, will make the proposed regime abhorrent. In dealing with the threat of terrorism it is important that the public is well informed on matters related to it. Research into the background of terrorism and terrorist groups can assist in
62 Annual Report 2007-2008 Australian Press Council
safeguarding an open and liberal democracy. Similarly, there is a need to ensure that material GPRs that can aid research, add to our understanding of terrorism and assist in reasoned debate on the 280 issues should not be arbitrarily restricted as a result of a Bill that contains definitions of “advocacy” 281 that are far too wide.
Newspaper election coverage unbiased General Press Release No 281 (October 2007) With the election campaign starting this week, it is likely that we will soon hear accusations that this outlet or that is biased in its coverage. It is interesting then to see that research conducted for the Australian Press Council has found that there was no evidence of bias in newspaper coverage of the 2006 Victorian and Queensland state elections. In a report on recent developments in the Australian print media to be launched on Thursday 18 With the October at 10 am, the Press Council publishes summaries of original research it commissioned election on the question, “Is newspaper coverage of elections biased?” Academic studies of The Courier- campaign Mail’s coverage of the 2006 Queensland election campaign and The Age’s coverage the 2006 starting this Victorian election campaign found no bias. The basic intent of the studies was to gather empirical week, it is data relating to the possible bias of newspapers in election periods, an accusation frequently likely that we aired by all sides in politics, but the research went further, with evidence of such matters as a will soon hear longer-term trend toward presidential-style elections, where reporting centres on the leaders, accusations and where there is close control of the flow of information by political parties. The coverage that this illuminated the main issues in each state, even to the point of the newspapers, in the absence of outlet or that opposition advocacy, analysing issues that ought to be addressed. In the case of The Age, such is biased in analysis continued through the election, while The Courier-Mail had largely defined the issues its coverage. in its coverage of state politics leading up to the election. It is On Thursday the Council will launch the 2007 Supplement to The State of the News Print Media interesting in Australia 2006, a report it issued last year, based on a similar American analysis of its media. then to see The Council intends to publish a full State of the News Print Media every second year. In the that research odd-numbered years it will issue a Supplement, which updates the report with recent developments. conducted for Unlike the full report, which is also available in hard-copy format, the 2007 Supplement will be the available solely through the Council’s website (http://www.presscouncil.org.au/snpma/ Australian index_snpma2007.html), with a downloadable pdf version also available on the site. Press Council The 2007 Supplement will be available on-line from 10 am Sydney time on 18 October. has found In addition to the original research on election coverage, the 2007 Supplement also contains: that there • analysis of the latest trends in circulation, readership and usage of on-line news sites; was no • comments on the recent changes in cross-media ownership rules and their impact; evidence of • developments in newspaper on-line sites, including reports from Fairfax Media and News bias in Limited on their moves towards a ‘convergent’ newsroom; newspaper • discussion of some of the current ethical issues in the press, including the use of confidential coverage of sources; what’s off-the-record; and when the press should use leaked material of doubtful the 2006 origin; and Victorian and • an update on further legislative, administrative and judicial restrictions on the ability of Queensland the press to report matters of public interest and concern (and a few, very few, cases where state there has been a easing of those restrictions). elections. In his Introduction to the Supplement, Council Chairman Professor Ken McKinnon notes that the year since October 2006 has seen enormous changes in the Australian media landscape. In particular, “The transition ... towards making news available on-line, involving the convergence of print, photography and video to tell vital stories, has ... become the settled way forward, although metropolitan companies are well in advance of regional and rural companies in implementing the new business model.” He also comments on one development that will affect the future of the Council itself: “The Press Council is widening its remit to include Internet news sites that have, or wish to gain, reputations for accuracy, fairness and balance. The Council will accept applications for affiliation from any such sites willing to abide by both its long-standing Principles, and Privacy 63 Australian Press Council Annual Report 2007-2008
GPRs Standards, and willing to police some additional blog ‘etiquette’ requirements, covering civilised 281 discourse, an absence of threats and extreme language, currently being finalised.” 282 Professor McKinnon will launch the 2007 Supplement to The State of the News Print Media in Australia 2006 at the Council’s Sydney offices at 10 am. The media are invited.
Expulsion of publisher condemned General Press Release No 282 (February 2008) The Australian Press Council urges the interim government of Fiji to refrain from further damaging press freedom in Fiji. The Council condemns the expulsion of newspaper publisher Russell Hunter by the interim government and calls on the government to reverse this decision. In doing The so, it joins the Fiji Media Council, Reporters without Borders, Pacific Islands News Association, International Press Institute, PNG Media Council and many others in denouncing the government’s deportation of actions. Mr Hunter and his family The deportation of Mr Hunter and his family from Fiji amounts to a disgraceful attempt to from Fiji intimidate the media and bully anyone who criticises the government, or holds it accountable for amounts to a its conduct. disgraceful Apart from being an appalling attack on freedom of speech, the deportation of Mr Hunter will attempt to achieve no political advantage for the Fijian government, as Mr Hunter has stated his intention intimidate the to continue writing and publishing for The Fiji Sun from Australia. media and This is not the first time that the interim government has penalised the media for its critical bully anyone stance. If it is to develop a stable democracy in Fiji, with a press free to report on matters of who criticises public interest and concern, the government must permit Mr Hunter and his family to return the immediately. government, or holds it accountable for its conduct.
64 Annual Report 2007-2008 Australian Press Council
Australian Press Council Publications
The Council produces a number of publications. Publications available for a Some more recent publications are available as small fee pdf documents on the Council’s website (http:// www.presscouncil.org.au) . News Print Media report 2006 State of the News Print Media in Australia report. Online or $6 (GST inclusive). The 2007 Publications available free Supplement is available on-line as a pdf. on request a. Annual Reports Proceedings of Press Council Seminars Back issues of most are available from the Press [All prices include GST and postage within Council office. Australia; or sea-mail overseas.] a. Freedom of the Press; Role of the Press Council b. APC News (Sydney 1986) - $3 The News has been published quarterly since b. Australian Media In the 1990s (Melbourne 1989) - February 1989. The News from 1994 through out of print 2007 is available on the Council’s website. c. Media Ownership; Defamation Laws (Gold Coast 1989) - $10 c. Booklets d. Race, Press, Freedom of Speech (Perth 1990) - $5 There is currently one booklet in print: No. 9 e. Defamation Law Reform - the Attorneys’-General Aims, Principles and Complaints Procedure Proposal (Sydney 1990) - $3.50 f. Press Ethics: Are There Any? (Wollongong 1990) - d. The Twentieth Anniversary Papers $3.50 Five booklets published from October-December g. Investigative Journalism: How Probing? (Adelaide 1996 to mark the twentieth anniversary of the 1991) - $5 Council: h. The Press and Cultural Sensitivities (Darwin 1992) - 1. The reporting of suicide, particularly youth $5 suicide. The transcript of an invitation only i. Privacy and the Press (Melbourne 1993) - $3.50 roundtable discussion involving mental health j. The Constitution and Freedom of Speech (Corowa professionals, carer groups and the media. 1993) - $3.50 2. Whither the Australian Press Council? The k. Public Figures and the Press (Toowoomba 1994) - formation, function and future of the Council. $6. Deborah Kirkman’s MA History thesis on the l. The Role and Responsibility of Country Newspapers Council. (Mount Gambier 1994) - $4 m. Newspapers: A Voice For All? (Hobart 1995) - $4 3. The Australian Press Council Fellow 1995: n. The Back Page: the Press’ Coverage of Sport (Ballarat Professor John Soloski. The speeches given by 1995) - $4 the US defamation law reform expert during his o. Government Business and the Media (Fremantle trip to Australia in 1995. 1996) - $4 4. The Australian Press Council survey of p. The Role of the Press in the Reconciliation Process complainants. The complete report, with tables, (Cairns 1997) - $4 of the Council’s survey of complainants of 1988- q. The Regional Press, Privacy and the Press Council 9 to 1992-3. (Bathurst 1997) - $4 5. The Australian Press Council Fellow 1996: r. The Reporting of Gambling Issues - 253 kB in pdf - (Melbourne 1998) - $4 Professor Claude-Jean Bertrand. The speeches given by the French expert on media ethics during s. The Reporting of National Politics - 380 kB in pdf - (Canberra 1998) - $4 his trip to Australia in 1996. t. WAPC Oceania Conference - 1.9 mB in pdf - e. Occasional papers (Brisbane 1999) - $10 1. To Name or Not to Name u. What is News? - 488 kB in pdf - (Launceston, 1999) - $5 2. Ten Year Report 1987-1997. Prof Flint’s report of his 10 year’s at the helm of the Council. Published with a speech on the media. Proceedings of a Seminar held jointly with the ACIJ a. Commercial Confidentiality v. the Public Right 3. 1999 Australian Press Council Fellow. David to Know is available from the ACIJ (PO Box 123, Robie’s trip report and speeches. BROADWAY NSW 2007) at $15 each. 65 Australian Press Council Annual Report 2007-2008
Jack R Herman The Council
There was little movement in Council membership in the reporting year. The details are noted within each category of membership.
Public members Francesca Beddie, a public member of the Council since June 2003, offered her resignation to the December meeting. Having taken a role with the National Centre for Vocational Education Research, she found it left her with insufficient time to devote to the Council. The Chairman thanked her for her contribution to the Council. The Council appointed a new Public Member from NSW. Professor Ron Grunstein is currently Head of the Sleep and Circadian Research Group at the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research, University of Sydney, and co-Chief Investigator, National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NHMRC) Centre for Respiratory and Sleep Medicine at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney. He is also a Chief Investigator, NHMRC Australasian Sleep Trials Network and Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of Sydney. He heads a multi-disciplinary group of clinical researchers focused on various aspects of healthy sleep and sleep disorders. Ron has a particular interest in communicating research findings accurately to patients and health care providers. He is currently medical advisor to the patient advocacy group, Sleep Disorders Australia. Professor Grunstein has Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery degrees and a postgraduate Doctor of Medicine from the University of Sydney and a Ph. D. from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Ron is the current President of the World Federation of Sleep Research and Sleep Medicine Societies. Public member Katherine Sampson attended as a delegate to the Governance session of the 2020 Summit. She was able to use her experience on the Council to inform the debate at the summit.
Industry members In October, Chris McLeod retired from the Press Council. The Council’s Chairman noted, at the meeting, the long and singular contribution made by Mr. McLeod as a representative of the Herald and Weekly Times. He came to the Council as an alternate in 1990 and became the full member in 1991. Since then he has made a consistently strong contribution to the Council, especially in policy development and freedom of the press matters. As a result of his service, on behalf of the Council, the Chairman presented Mr. McLeod with the Australian Press Council Medal for outstanding service. (This was the second such award: the inaugural medal having been presented to a founder of the Council, David McNicoll). An interview with Chris McLeod about his time on the Council was published in the February 2003 APC News. The Herald and Weekly Times appointed John Trevorrow, the managing editor of The Herald Sun, as its new member. Two of the Council’s alternate Industry Members have retired from their current employment and therefore left the Council: Rex Jory, from The Advertiser, Adelaide, who has been alternate to John Trevorrow, representing the Herald & Weekly Times; and Russell Skelton, who has been Roslyn Guy’s alternate representative of The Age. Their replacements have not as yet been appointed. Fairfax alternate member Gerard Noonan won a special Walkley Award for “Most Outstanding Contribution to Journalism” at the recent MEAA awards. The Council extends its congratulations.
66 Annual Report 2007-2008 Australian Press Council
Members of the Australian Press Council as at 30 June 2008
Independent Chairman Publishers’ Representatives Chairman: Professor Ken McKinnon, AO Mr Phillip Dickson (AAP) former Vice Chancellor, Editorial Manager, Sydney AAP, Sydney.
Mr John Dunnet (Country Press Australia) Public Members (7 at each meeting): former Manager The Courier Professor Hoong Phun Lee (Vice Chair) Narrabri, NSW. Sir John Latham Professor of Law and Deputy Dean of Law, Monash University, Ms Roslyn Guy (The Age) Melbourne. Opinion Editor, The Age, Ms Cheryl Attenborough Melbourne Public servant Hobart Mr Peter Jeanes (WA Newspapers Ltd) Editorial Manager Ms Helen Edwards The West Australian Executive, Lane Wines, Perth. Adelaide. Mr Bruce Morgan (Regional Dailies) Mr John Fleetwood General Manager Human Relations Manager The Courier Adelaide Ballarat, Vic. Professor Ron Grunstein Mr Sam North (John Fairfax Group) Professor of Medicine, Managing Editor, Sydney. The Herald Publications, Sydney. Mr Brenton Holmes Public servant Mr Bob Osburn (Community Newspapers) Canberra. Editor in chief Cumberland Newspapers Ms Wendy Mead Sydney. Professional Counsellor Brisbane. Mr Campbell Reid (News Limited) Editorial Development Manager, Ms Katherine Sampson News Limited, Managaing Director, Mahlab Recruitment Sydney. Melbourne. Mr John Trevorrow (Herald and Weekly Times) Ms Lisa Scaffidi Managing Editor, Lord Mayor Herald and Weekly Times Ltd, Perth, WA. Melbourne.
Ms Pam Walkley (ACP Magazines) Business Editor Money Magazine, Sydney.
67 Australian Press Council Annual Report 2007-2008
Council Journalist member - MEAA Mr Peter Owen (alternate to Mr Morgan) journalists APN News and Media Editors Mr Alan Kennedy Brisbane. Alternates Federal President, Journalists’ section, MEAA Committees Mr David Sommerlad, AM (alternate to Mr Dunnet) Secretariat Sydney. Associate Director, Country Press Australia, Independent Journalist Sydney. Members (2 at each meeting) Mr Gene Swintead (alternate to Mr Osburn) Mr Bruce Baskett Melbourne Freelance journalist/consultant Melbourne. Council Committees Ms Prue Innes Note: The Chairman and Vice Chairman are ex Freelance journalist officio members of all committees. Melbourne. Complaints Mr Adrian McGregor The committee is appointed each month by the Freelance journalist, Chairman, after consultation with the Executive Brisbane. Secretary, from those members who have indicated a willingness to serve on the Panel of Editor Members (1 at committee. each meeting): Constitutionally, it must have a majority of Mr Gary Evans public and ex-officio members. The current Former Editorial Manager composition is the Chairman, three public Queensland Newspapers members, one representative of the publishers, Brisbane. one journalist member and one editor member.
Mr Warren Beeby Policy Development Former Group Editorial Manager, K McKinnon (Chairman) News Limited H P Lee (Deputy Chairman) Sydney. A Kennedy J Trevorrow Alternate Publisher members C Reid S North/R Guy* C Attenborough/L Scaffidi* Ms Selina Day (alternate to Mr Dickson) Editorial Logistics Manager B Holmes/W Mead* AAP, Sydney G Evans/ W Beeby* * one at each meeting Ms Sharon Hill (alternate to Mr Reid) Editorial Staff Manger Nationwide News Promotions Committee Sydney L Scaffidi (Convenor) A McGregor G Swinstead Mr Zoltan Kovacs (alternate to Mr Jeanes) Opinion Editor W Mead The West Australian, D Kirkman Perth. ]/ ftt
Mr Gerard Noonan (alternate to Mr North) The Secretariat Senior Writer, The Sydney Morning Herald, Jack R Herman - Executive Secretary Sydney. Deborah Kirkman - Office Manager Inez Ryan - Policy Officer Melanie Maroun - Assistant to the Executive Secretary
68 Annual Report 2007-2008 Australian Press Council
Code of Ethics Members of the Australian Press Council 1. Members commit to upholding and promoting the Principles of the Council professionally and personally. 2. While appointed to ensure that the views of the Australian press and a wide cross-section of the community are heard, members shall at all times act in the interests of a free press that serves the Australian public responsibly in accordance with the Council’s principles. 3. Members will declare any business, professional or personal conflict of interest in a matter before Council, and will absent themselves from discussion. 4. Members will not use their membership of the Council for personal or professional advantage. 5. Members accept the personal commitment necessary to ensure the responsibilities of their position are fully met.
Council meetings 2007-2008 There were 8 Council meetings during the year, seven in Sydney. The Complaints Committee also met eight times, each the day before a Council meeting. Below are dates and venues of Council meetings. August 1 and 2 August 2007 Sydney September 12 and 13 September 2007 Sydney October 24 and 25 October 2007 Sydney December 5 and 6 December 2007 Sydney January 30 and 31 January 2008 Sydney March [including Public Meeting] 13 and 14 March 2008 Wellington, NZ April/May 30 April and 1 May 2008 Sydney June 11 and 12 June 2008 Sydney
Elected and appointed officers of the Council
Chairmen The Rt Hon. Sir Frank Kitto, AC, KBE, PC August 1976 - June 1982 Professor Geoffrey Sawer, AO July 1982 - April 1984 The Hon. J H Wootten, AC, QC August 1984 - December 1986 Professor David Flint, AM January 1987 - October 1997 Professor Dennis Pearce November 1997 - October 2000 Professor Ken McKinnon December 2000 -
Vice-Chairmen A A Sir Louis Matheson August 1976 - January 1977 Dorothy Ross, AM, OBE August 1977 - September 1985 Prof David Flint, AM October 1985 - January 1987 Dorothy Ross, AM, OBE February 1987 - June 1997 Lange Powell July 1997 - March 2004 Professor HP Lee March 2004 -
Executive Secretaries Arthur Heinrichs August 1976 - December 1978 Lyle Cousland January 1979 - December 1979 Colin McKay January 1980 - October 1985 Jennifer Treleaven September 1985 - March 1994 Jack R Herman April 1994 - 69 Australian Press Council Annual Report 2007-2008
Statement of Financial Position as at 30 June 2008
2008 2007 $$ Assets
Current assets Cash and cash equivalents 288,328 268,775 Trade and other receivables 9,251 3,695 Other current assets 1,476 1,274 Total current assets 299,055 273,744
Non-current assets Property, plant and equipment 56,810 53,880 Total non-current assets 56,810 53,880
Total Assets 355,865 327,624
Liabilities
Current liabilities Trade and other payables 19,910 15,397 Short-term provisions 50,691 39,415 Total current liabilities 70,601 54,812
Non-current liabilities Other long-term provisions 65,098 59,445 Total non-current liabilities 65,098 59,445
Total Liabilities 135,699 114,257
Net Assets 220,166 213,367
Equity Retained earnings 220,166 213,367
Total Equity 220,166 213,367
70 Annual Report 2007-2008 Australian Press Council
Publishers’ Statistics as at 30 June 2008
The following statistics and information on them have been provided by the publishers of metropolitan newspapers and of other major groups.
Advertiser Newspapers Limited
Newspapers Frequency Ownership Circulation if not 100% The Advertiser Mon-Fri 189,668 Sat 256,063 Sunday Mail Weekly *50% 313,469 City Messenger Weekly 27,030 East Torrens Messenger Weekly 33,495 Courier Messenger Weekly 62,710 Guardian Messenger Weekly 70,820 Hills Messenger Weekly 19,530 Leader Messenger Weekly 43,545 News Review Messenger Weekly 93,120 Portside Messenger Weekly 32,955 Southern Times Messenger Weekly 58,965 Standard Messenger Weekly 35,175 Weekly Times Messenger Weekly 61,945 Adelaide Matters 4 Weekly 115,000
*Remaining 50% held by News Limited
Acquisitions Nil
Divestitures Nil
Mergers Nil
Major Owner News Corporation
Company Directors Mr. P.F. Wylie – Chairman Mr. M.B. Miller – Managing Director Mr. J.K. Hartigan Mrs. P. MacLeod Mr. P.J. Macourt Mr. R.A. Cordina
71 Australian Press Council Annual Report 2007-2008
ACP Magazines Ltd
Magazines Frequency Ownership Circulation if not 100% Australian Auto Action Fortnightly 13,254 Australian Gourmet Traveller monthly 77,736 Australian House & Garden monthly 95,213 Australian Motorcycle News fortnightly 22,507 Australian NetGuide monthly 19,134 APC (Australian Personal Computer) monthly 37,156 Australian Table monthly 67,095 Australian Women’s Weekly monthly 530,143 Belle bi-monthly 32,513 Burke’s Backyard monthly 66,513 Campervan and Motorhome Trader monthly 19,364 Caravan World monthly 12,829 Cleo monthly 149,256 Cosmopolitan monthly 50% 165,301 Deals On Wheels monthly 33,477 Disney Adventures monthly Published under licence 35,647 Disney Girl monthly Published under licence 33,477 Disney Princess monthly Published under licence Dolly monthly 120,222 Earthmovers & Excavators monthly 11,596 Farms & Farm Machinery monthly 12,697 Fernwood, Your Healthy Living Magazine bi-monthly 0% 4 X 4 Australia monthly 20,526 4 X 4 Trader monthly Good Health & Medicine monthly 65,189 Gourmet Traveller Wine Magazine bi-monthly 23,197 Harper’s Bazaar 10/year 50% 55,891 Inside Cricket 9/year (season) 50% Madison monthly 50% 95,166 Money monthly 51,201 Motor monthly 44,040 Motorcycle Trader monthly NW weekly 155,150 PC User monthly 51,554 People weekly 48,434 Picture weekly 68,671 Plant & Equipment monthly Ralph monthly 66,233 Real Living monthly 57,120 Rugby League Week 35/year (season) 21,092 Shop Til You Drop 11/year 75,197 Street Machine monthly 58,930 Take 5 weekly 257,224 Trade-A-Boat monthly 19,212 Trailer Boat monthly 15,130 TV Week weekly 238,517 Unique Cars monthly 56,871 Wheels monthly 67,824 Woman’s Day weekly 430,235
Changes Bulletin no longer published; 4x4 Trader, Motorcycle Trader and Plant & Equipment were not audited..
Major Owners The publisher is ACP Magazines Ltd, 100% owned by PBL Media Pty Ltd.
ACP Magazines Ltd Board of Directors Ian Francis Law Scott Darren Lorson Patrick Redmond Joseph O’Sullivan
72 Annual Report 2007-2008 Australian Press Council
APN News and Media
APN News and Media have not provided the Council with current year statistics prior to the publication of this report. The following are the company’s known print media assets in Australia.
NSW Regional Daily and community South Burnett Times, Kingaroy newspapers Central and North Burnett Times Western Times Daily News, Tweed Heads Balonne Beacon, St George Gold Coast Mail, Tweed Heads Sunshine Coast Daily Border Mail/Tweed Mail Sunshine Coast Sunday Northern Star, Lismore Nambour Weekly Byron Shire News Buderim Weekly North Coast Advocate, Ballina Caloundra Weekly Rivertown Times, Ballina The Weekly Northern Farmer Bulletin, Lismore Noosa News Richmond River Express Examiner, Casino Caboolture News The Daily Examiner, Grafton Bribie Weekly Coastal Views, Yamba The Queensland Times, Ipswich The Advocate, Coffs Harbour The Ipswich Advertiser Satellite, Ipswich Queensland Regional Daily and Big Rigs, Ipswich community newspapers The Chronicle, Toowoomba Toowoomba’s Mail Rural Weekly The Daily Mercury, Mackay Cotton Insight Whitsunday Times, Airlie Beach Dalby Herald Mackay Midweek Northern Down News, Dalby Miners Midweek Gatton Star Sarina Midweek The Western Star, Roma The Central Queensland News, Emerald The Stanthorpe Border Post The Blackwater Herald, Blackwater Chinchilla News The Morning Bulletin, Rockhampton Western Times Capricorn Coast Mirror Daily News, Warwick Capricorn Local News Bush Telegraph, Warwick The Central Telegraph, Biloela The Weekly Trader, Warwick The Observer, Gladstone Port Curtis Post APN Business Information Group The NewsMail, Bundaberg Guardian Bundaberg ANZIDECC Directory - Australian & New The Fraser Coast Chronicle, Maryborough Zealand Industry Defence Equipment Hervey Bay Observer and Capability The Maryborough Herald Australian Exporters CD Let’s Go Fishing Hospital Buyers Guide Directory Western Times, Charleville Hospital Yearbook Directory The Gympie Times Kompass Australia Directory Cooloola Advertiser, Gympie
73 Australian Press Council Annual Report 2007-2008
Cumberland Newspaper Group
Publication Publication Audited Schedule Circulation
Cumberland Newspaper Group Blacktown Advocate Weekly 52,076 Canterbury-Bankstown Express Weekly 84,707 Central Coast Express Advocate Bi-weekly 127,106 Fairfield Advance Weekly 56,460 The Glebe Weekly 51,306 Hills Shire Times Weekly 65,615 Hornsby and Upper North Shore Advocate Weekly 50,683 Inner West Weekly Weekly 52,560 Liverpool Leader Weekly 58,592 Macarthur Chronicle Weekly 77,264 Manly Daily Daily (Tue to Sat) 89,904 Mosman Daily Weekly 37,106 Mt Druitt-St Marys Standard Weekly 44,406 North Shore Times Bi-weekly 73,830 Northern District Times Weekly 58,552 Parramatta Advertiser Weekly 83,171 Penrith Press Bi-weekly 54,913 Rouse Hill Times Weekly 20,000 SASS Magazine Monthly 29,939
Courier Group Central Weekly 38,577 Inner West Courier Weekly 76,928 Northside Weekly 69,969 Southern Courier Weekly 47,503 Wentworth Courier Weekly 48,262 Alive Sydney Weekly 40,481 9 to 5 Weekly 40.481 Village Voice – Balmain Monthly 25,000 Village Voice – Drummoyne Monthly 20,000 Village Voice – Harbourside Monthly 20,000 Village Voice – Beaches Monthly 20,000
Acquisitions Nil
Divestitures Nil
Major Owner Cumberland Newspapers is a division of Nationwide News Pty Ltd, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of News Limited.
Company Directors Warren Beeby Peter Jourdain Lawrence Brindle Donald Kennedy Keith Brodie Peter Macourt Islwyn Davies Stephen Rue Mark Elgood Mark Webster Jeremy Harris Peter Wylie
74 Annual Report 2007-2008 Australian Press Council
Davies Brothers Pty Limited
Newspapers Frequency Circulation
Mercury, Hobart Mon-Fri 46,985 Saturday Mercury Saturday 61,895 Sunday Tasmanian Sunday 60,134 Tasmanian Country Weekly Rural16,800 Treasure Island Monthly Tourist The Gazette Regional Weekly 2,382
Magazines Various magazines and periodicals published as Agents for The Herald & Weekly Times Pty Ltd, John Fairfax Group, David Syme & Co (The Age), Mirror-Australian-Telegraph Publications.
Major Shareholder The Herald & Weekly Times Pty Limited
Ultimate Beneficial Owner News Limited
Company Directors T Yianni - Managing Director P J Gibson
75 Australian Press Council Annual Report 2007-2008
Fairfax Media
Publication Frequency Ownership Circulation
NSW and ACT Metropolitan Publishing The Sydney Morning Herald (212,500 weekdays / 364,000 Saturdays) The Sun-Herald (483,220) The Canberra Times (34.068 / 59,939 / 36.316 Sundays)
Fairfax Community Newspapers (NSW), Hunter and Illawarra Regional Publishing The Herald –Newcastle (50,000) Illawarra Mercury (28,100) Central Coast Sun Weekly Lakes Mail Port Stephens Examiner Wollongong Advertiser St George & Sutherland Shire Leader Cooks River Valley Times Auburn Review The Campbelltown Macarthur Advertiser Camden Advertiser Wollondilly Advertiser Fairfield City Champion Liverpool City Champion Bankstown-Canterbury Torch Blacktown City Sun Parramatta Sun Penrith City Star St Mary’s Star Hills News South Western Rural Northern News Sun Guardian
New South Wales Regional Publishing Armidale Express Armidale Express Extra Armidale: InTune Magazine Batemans Bay Post/Moruya Examiner Bathurst Western Advocate Bathurst Western Times Bega District News Bellingen Shire Courier Sun Blayney Chronicle Blue Mountains Gazette Blue Mountains Wonderland Bombala Times Boorowa News Border News Bowral :Highlands Post Bowral: Property Press Bowral: Southern Highland News Braidwood Tallaganda Times Camden Haven Courier Canowindra News Central Western Daily Cessnock Advertiser Cobar Age Coffs Harbour Independent Coleambally: Colypoint Observer Colour World Cooma Monaro Express/Jindabyne Summit Sun
76 Annual Report 2007-2008 Australian Press Council
Fairfax stats (including Rural Press)
Cootamundra Herald Country Leader Cowra Guardian Crookwell Gazette Daily Liberal Dubbo Daily Liberal Dubbo Mailbox Shopper Dungog Chronicle Eastern Riverina Observer Eden Imlay Magnet Eurobodalla Shire Independent Eurobodalla TV Guide Express Extra Forbes Advocate Forster: Great Lakes Advocate Gilgandra Weekly Glen Innes Examiner Gloucester Advocate Goodiwindi Argus Goulburn Post Goulburn: The Post Weekly Great Lakes Advocate Grenfell Record Griffith: The Area News Guyra Argus Harden Murrumburrah Express Hastings Gazette Hawkesbury Courier Hawkesbury Gazette Henty: Eastern Riverina Chronicle Hunter Valley News Hunter Valley Town + Country Junee: Southern Cross Inverell Times Kempsey: Macleay Argus Kempsey: Macleay Valley Happenings Laurieton: Camden Haven Courier Leeton: The Irrigator Lightning Ridge News Lithgow Mercury Macksville: Midcoast Observer Macleay Argus Macleay Valley Happynings Mailbox Shopper Maitland: Lower Hunter Star Maitland Mercury Manning Great Lakes Extra Manning River Times Merimbula News Weekly Midcoast Happenings Midstate Observer Moree: Border News Moree Champion Moruya Examiner Mudgee Guardian Mudgee Weekly Muswellbrook Chronicle Muswellbrook: Hunter Valley News Nambucca Guardian News Nambucca Heads: Hibiscus Happynings Narooma News Narromine News Newcastle Star 77 Australian Press Council Annual Report 2007-2008
Fairfax stats News of the Area (including Rural Newsweekly Press) North Coast SeniorLifestyle North Coast Town + Country Magazine Northern Daily Leader Nowra: Shoalhaven + Nowra News Nowra: South Coast Register Nyngan Observer Oberon Review Orange Central Western Daily Orange Midstate Observer Parkes Champion Post Port Macquarie Express Port Macquarie News Port Macquarie: Hastings Happenings Queanbeyan Age Sapphire Coaster Scone Advocate Shoalhaven and Nowra News Singleton Argus Snowy Times South Coast Register South Coast Senior Lifestyle South Coast Weekly South East Town + Country Southern Weekly Magazine Summit Sun Sussex Inlet Times Tallaganda Times Tamworth: Northern Daily Leader Tamworth Times Taree: Manning Great Lakes Extra Taree: Manning River Times Tea Gardens/Hawks Nest: NOTA Tenterfield Star The Australian Senior The Magnet The Rural Thornton: Weekend Hunter Star Town & Country Ulladulla: Milton Ulladulla Times Upper Hunter TV Guide Wauchope: Hastings Gazette Wagga Wagga: Daily Advertiser Wagga Wagga: Weekend Advertiser Wagga Wagga: The Rural Wagga Wagga: The Riverina Leader Walcha News Warren Advocate Wellington Times Western Advocate Western Times Western Magazine Wingham Chronicle Yass Tribune Young Witness
Victoria Metropolitan and Community Publishing The Age (208,000 / 301,500) The Sunday Age (227,500)
Fairfax Community Network – Victoria Melbourne Weekly Magazine The Melbourne Times Melbourne Weekly Bayside Emerald Hill Weekly Melbourne Weekly Eastern Heidelberg & Diamond Valley Weekly 78 Annual Report 2007-2008 Australian Press Council
Northern Weekly Fairfax stats Hume Weekly (including Rural (Melbourne’s Weekly Magazine) CITY Press) Knox Journal Maroondah / Yarra Ranges Journal The Journal Monash Journal Cranbourne Journal Berwick / Pakenham Journal Macedon Ranges / Sunbury Telegraph Werribee Banner / Point Cook Banner Moreland Community News Moonee Valley Community News The Mail /Altona Laverton Mail/ Williamstown Advertiser Melton / Moorabool Express Telegraph The Advocate / North-West Advocate Frankston / Hastings Independent Mornington and South Peninsula Mail Chelsea, Mordialloc, Mentone Independent Holiday Magazine Holiday Bass Coast & Gippsland
Regional Publishing, Southern and Western Victoria Publishing Ararat Advertiser Ballarat Courier Ballarat News Bendigo Advertiser (14,196) Bendigo Miner Colac Extra Corangamite Extra Country Mail – Albury/Wodonga Gippsland Farmer Gippsland Times Gippsland Times Hepburn Shire Advocate Latrobe Valley Express Moe & Narracan News Morwell Press Centre Stawell Times News The Border Mail, Albury/Wodonga The Express – Albury/Wodonga The Great Southern Tourist News - Victoria The Moyne Gazette The Warrnambool Extra The Warrnambool Standard (12,980) Traralgon Journal Wimmera Mail Times
Tasmania: Launceston Publishing East Coast & Diary News Launceston Advertiser Launceston Examiner (33,609) Meander Valley News Northern Midlands Community News Sunday Examiner, Tasmania (41,434) Tamar Community Times Tasmanian Independent Publishing Tasmanian Travelways
Tasmania: Burnie Publishing Central Coast Times, Burnie Devonport Times The Advocate, Burnie Western Herald, North West Tasmania
79 Australian Press Council Annual Report 2007-2008
Fairfax stats South Australia Publishing (including Rural Barossa and Light Herald Press) Eyre Peninsula Tribune, Cleve Flinders News, SA Murray Valley Standard On The Coast, Victor Harbor Port Lincoln Times Roxby Downs Sun The Islander, Kangaroo Island The Northern Argus, Clare Valley The Recorder, Port Pirie The Transcontinental, Port Augusta Victor Harbor Times West Coast Sentinel, Ceduna Whyalla News
Western Australia Publishing Augusta Margaret River Mail Avon Advocate, Northam Bunbury Mail Busselton-Dunsborough Mail Central Districts Advocate, Northam Collie Mail Donnybrook Bridgetown Mail Esperance Express Golden Mail, Kalgoorlie Harvey Mail Mandurah Mail Merredin-Wheatbelt Mercury Murray Mail Senior Post, WA The Wagin Argus Xpress Magazine, WA
Agricultural Publishing and Queensland Regional Publishing National Australasian Flowers Australian Cotton Outlook Australian Dairyfarmer Australian Farm Journal Australian Horticulture Australian Landcare Australian Nursery Manager Country Music Capital News Dairy Info. Guide Directory of Australian Country Music Flower Register Good Fruit + Vegetables Horse Deals Hortguide Irrigation and Water Resources Lotfeeding National GrapeGrowers and Vignerons Official Guide to Tamworth Country Music Festival Turfcraft
New South Wales Farm Equipment Trader Farming Small Areas NSW Ag Today The Land (52,624)
Queensland North Queensland Register Queensland Country Life 80 Annual Report 2007-2008 Australian Press Council
Queensland Grains Outlook Fairfax stats Queensland Smart Farmer (including Rural Press) South Australia Smart Farmer Stock Journal The Grower
Victoria Stock and Land
Western Australia Farm Weekly Ripe
Field Days and Events Commonwealth Bank Ag-Quip Elders FarmFest Farming Small Areas Expo Hunks and Spunks Murrumbidgee Farm Fair Northern and Southern Beef Weeks NSW Beef Spectacular Pro-Ag Queensland Country Life Beef Week Star Maker Quest Tamworth Country Music Festival
Queensland Regional Publishing d’fine Redland Lifestyle Goondiwindi Argus Senior Lifestyle Bayside Southern Bay News The Bayside Bulletin The Northwest Star The Redlands Directory The Redland Times
Fairfax Business Media Australia Publications The Australian Financial Review (89,329) The Australian Financial Review – Weekend Edition (92,415) AFR BOSS The Australian Financial Review Magazine AFR Smart Investor Life&LeisureLuxury Life & Leisure The Sophisticated Traveller Asset BRW CFO MIS Australia
Online afr.com afrmarketwrap.com brw.com.au misaustralia.com afrsmartinvestor.com.au afrmagazine.com afrboss.com cfoweb.com.au assetmag.com.au
81 Australian Press Council Annual Report 2007-2008
Fairfax stats Fairfax Digital Business and Finance (including Rural News Businessday.com.au Press) Smh.com.au Mysmallbusiness.com.au Theage.com.au Investsmart.com.au Brisbanetimes.com.au Tradingroom.com.au WAtoday.com.au Moneymanafger.com.au Sunherald.com.au Execstyle.com.au
Fairfax Digital Regional Network (formerly Life Style and Entertainment Yourguide.com.au) Cuisine.com.au Farmonline.com.au Birsbanetimes.com.au/goodfoodguide www.lifeislocal.com.au Essentialbaby.com.au www.ruralpress.com TheVine.com.au www.agquip.com.au www.autoguide.com.au Sport www.businessquickfind.com.au Rugbyheaven.com.au www.buyersguide.com.au Realfooty.com.au www.canberratimes.com.au Leaguehq.com.au www.examiner.com.au www.farmonline.com.au Travel / Accommodation www.farmprogress.com Stayz.com.au www.feedstuffs.com www.fridaymag.com.au Property www.holidaysaway.net Domain.com.au www.jobsguide.com.au Apm.com.au (Australian Property www.lifestyle-farmer.co.nz Managers) www.localdirectory.com.au www.plantorder.com Automotive www.propertyguide.com.au Drive.com.au www.river949.com.au Countrycars.com.au www.rpinteractive.com.au Autoguide.com.au www.ruralbookshop.com.au www.ruralpropertyguide.com.au Dating www.ruralpresssales.com Rsvp.com.au www.tackntogs.com www.yourguide.com.au Employment Mycareer.com.au Thebigchair.com.au Fairfax Magazines Good Weekend Sunday Life the(sydney)magazine theage(melbourne)magazine Travel + Leisure Australia Television
Style HQ Collection - Custom Publishing The Chase Fashion Capital QueensPlaza
Substantial shareholders Marinya Media Pty Limited HBSC Custody nominees (Australia) Limited National Nominees Limited JP Morgan Nominees Australia Limited
Board of Directors Ronald Walker AC CBE, Chairman Nicholas Fairfax Mark Burrows AO,Deputy Chairman Julia King Roger Corbett AM David Kirk, Chief Executive Officer David Evans Robert Savage John B. Fairfax Peter Young
82 Annual Report 2007-2008 Australian Press Council
Leader Newspaper Group
Newspapers Frequency Circulation
Bayside Leader Weekly 40,248 Berwick/Pakenham Cardinia Leader Weekly 63,266 Brimbank Leader Weekly 66,700 Caulfield Glen Eira/Port Phillip Leader Weekly 84,077 Cranbourne Leader Weekly 28,235 Dandenong/Springvale Dandenong LeaderWeekly 43,180 Diamond Valley Leader Weekly 45,325 Frankston Standard/Hastings Leader Weekly 68,253 Free Press Leader Weekly 17,682 Heidelberg Leader Weekly 29,996 Hobsons Bay Leader Weekly 35,580^ Hume Leader Weekly 57,772 Knox Leader Weekly 62,455 Lilydale & Yarra Valley Leader Weekly 38,917 Manningham Leader Weekly 45,179 Maribyrnong Leader Weekly 28,758^ Maroondah Leader Weekly 44,596 Melbourne Leader Weekly 54,170 Melton/Moorabool Leader Weekly 36,572 Moonee Valley Leader Weekly 55,192 Moorabbin Glen Eira/Moorabbin Kingston Leader Weekly 50,706 Mordialloc Chelsea Leader Weekly 35,177 Moreland Leader Weekly 52,491 Mornington Peninsula Leader Weekly 50,857 Northcote Leader Weekly 24,007 Preston Leader Weekly 37,936 Progress Leader Weekly 69,740 Stonnington Leader Weekly 53,117 Sunbury/Macedon Ranges Leader Weekly 28,397 Waverley/Oakleigh Monash Leader Weekly 69,744 Whitehorse Leader Weekly 66,056 Whittlesea Leader Weekly 47,616 Wyndham Leader Weekly 44,479^
Major Owner News Limited
Company Directors S Bradshaw R C Snelling PJ Macourt C A Macleod
Source CAB March 2007 ^Includes Publisher’s claim for Hobsons Bay Leader, Maribyrnong Leader Wyndham Leader
83 Australian Press Council Annual Report 2007-2008
News Corporation
Media Interests Ciculation at 30.06.2008
Australian National and Metropolitan Dailies The Australian Mon-Fri 136,000 The Weekend Australian Sat 301,000 The Daily Telegraph, Sydney Mon-Fri 385,000 Sat 327,000 Mx, Sydney Mon-Fri 95,084* Herald Sun, Melbourne Mon-Fri 530,000 Sat 510,500 Mx, Melbourne Mon-Fri 89,439* The Courier-Mail, Brisbane Mon-Fri 217,575 Sat 309,602 Mx, Brisbane Mon-Fri 40,000^ The Advertiser, Adelaide Mon-Fri 189,668 Sat 256,063 The Mercury, Hobart Mon-Fri 46,758 Sat 61,813 The NT News, Darwin Mon-Fri 21,319 Sat 31,860 * Circulation at 31.03.2008 ^ Publishers Claim at 31.03.2008
Australian Weekly Newspapers The Sunday Telegraph, Sydney 663,000 Sunday Herald Sun, Melbourne 622,000 The Sunday Times Perth 328,000 Sunday Mail, Adelaide 313,469 The Sunday Mail, Brisbane 565,173 Sunday Tasmanian, Hobart 59,930 Sunday Territorian, Darwin 22,658 The Weekly Times, Melbourne 70,800 Sportsman, Sydney n/a
Australian Regional newspapers The Gold Coast Bulletin Mon-Fri 42,340 Sat 72,214 The Cairns Post Mon-Fri 27,441 Sat 45,271 Townsville Bulletin Mon-Fri 26,484 Sat 41,061 Geelong Advertiser Mon-Fri 26,484 Sat 46,425 Centralian Advocate, Alice Springs twice weekly 7,160
Australian Magazines Alpha Monthly 113,633 Australian Country Style Monthly 56,115 Australian Good Taste Monthly 160,511 Australian Parents Monthly n/a Delicious Monthly 128,500 Donna Hay Bi-Monthly 86,152 Emporium Quarterly n/a Gardening Australia Monthly 99,058 GQ Bi-Monthly n/a InsideOut Bi-monthly 53,347 Notebook Monthly 67,055 Super Food Ideas Monthly 310,000 Vogue Australia Monthly 49,339 Vogue Entertaining & Travel Bi-Monthly 31,498 Vogue Living Bi-Monthly 41,570
84 Annual Report 2007-2008 Australian Press Council
Other Australian magazines News stats Australian Golf Digest Overlander 4WD Two Wheels Modern Boating Scooter Modern Fishing Truckin Life Trucker Trailer BSME Tattoo Live to Ride Big League Lifestyle Pools
Overseas Publications The Sun, London 3,120,512 The Times, London 620,059 The Sunday Times, London 1,193,450 News of the World, London 3,207,103 The London Paper 500,800 New York Post 702,488 Wall Street Journal Fiji Times* Mon-Fri 19,287 Sat 38,993 Fiji Sunday Times* 16,940 Post Courier, PNG* 24,140 * not wholly owned
Acquisitions Nil
Divestitures Nil
Note on other publications Some News Limited companies report separately in this report: Advertiser Newspapers (including Messenger Newspapers); Cumberland Newspapers; Davies Brothers; Leader Newspapers; North Queensland Newspapers; Queensland Press; and Quest Community Newspapers. News Limited also holds a 50.1% stake in Perth’s Community Newspapers, which report under West Australian Newspapers.
News Corporation is incorporated in Delaware, United States, with a primary listing on the New York Stock Exchange.
Company Directors Rupert Murdoch Andrew S.B. Knight José María Aznar James R Murdoch Natalie Bancroft Lachlan K. Murdoch Peter L Barnes Thomas J. Perkins Peter Chernin Arthur M. Siskind Kenneth E. Cowley John L. Thornton David F. DeVoe Stanley S Shuman (Director Emeritus) Viet Dinh Sir Roderick I. Eddington Mark Hurd
85 Australian Press Council Annual Report 2007-2008
North Queensland Newspaper Company Pty Limited
Newspapers Frequency Circulation
The Townsville Bulletin Mon-Sat 29,098 Mon-Fri 26,646 Sat. 41,356 The Sun* Weekly, Wed 52,695 The Tablelander* Tues 16,531
Bowen Independent Wed, Fri 3,267 The Observer Thursday 1,441 The Advocate Wed, Fri 4,019 The Northern Miner Tues, Fri 2,825 The Herbert River Express Tues, Thurs, Sat 2,811 Innisfail Advocate Tues, Thurs, Sat 3,563
* free weekly
New Publication Nil
Acquisitions Nil
Ceased Publication Nil
Divestitures Nil
Owner Nationwide News Pty Limited (100%) - ultimate holding company The News Corporation Limited.
86 Annual Report 2007-2008 Australian Press Council
Queensland Press Limited
Newspapers Frequency Ownership Circulation if not 100%
The Courier-Mail Mon-Fri 217,575* Sat 309,602* The Sunday Mail Sunday 565,173* Mx Mon-Fri 40,000+ Gold Coast Bulletin Mon-Fri 42,340* Sat 72,214* The Cairns Post Mon-Fri 27,441* Sat 45,271* Brisbane News Weekly 119,982** Gold Coast Sun Weekly 164,733** Cairns Sun Weekly 52,632** Port Douglas & Mossman Gazette Weekly 4,621** Tablelands Advertiser Weekly 18,852**
* Audit Bureau of Circulations June 2008 ** Circulations Audit Board March 2008 + (Publisher statement)
Acquisitions Nil
Divestitures Nil
Major Owners News Corporation
Company Directors L G Brindle J Harris J K Hartigan K H McDonald OBE
87 Australian Press Council Annual Report 2007-2008
Quest Community Newspapers
Newspaper Title Frequency Circulation 2007 Albert & Logan News Bi-weekly (Wed) 74,220* (Fri) 77,480* Caboolture Shire Herald Weekly (Tuesday) 48,110 City News Weekly (Thursday) 49,980 City North News Weekly (Thursday) 29,654 City South News Weekly (Thursday) 34,277 Ipswich News Weekly (Thursday) 43,266 Logan West Leader Weekly (Wednesday) 32,226 Northern Times Weekly (Friday) 88,676 Northside Chronicle Weekly (Wednesday) 62,845 North-West News Weekly (Wednesday) 42,957 Pine Rivers Press Weekly (Wednesday) 41,446 Redcliffe & Bayside Herald Weekly (Wednesday) 34,140 South-East Advertiser Weekly (Wednesday) 54,207 Southern Star Weekly (Wednesday) 59,263 South-West News Weekly (Wednesday) 51,213 Westside News Weekly (Wednesday) 62,233 Wynnum Herald Weekly (Wednesday) 34,388
New Publications The Noosa Journal Weekly (Thursday) 22,112 weekender Weekly (Thursday) 73,979
Circulation Souce: Circulations Audit Board, Oct ’07 - Mar ‘08 * Publisher’s Claim
Ceased Publication Nil
Divestitures Nil.
Major Owner Quest Community Newspapers is a division of Nationwide News Pty Ltd, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of News Limited.
88 Annual Report 2007-2008 Australian Press Council
West Australian Newspapers Limited
Newspapers Frequency Ownership Circulation
The West Australian Mon-Fri 196,490 Sat 348,153 Kalgoorlie Miner Mon-Sat 5,760 TABform Mon, Wed, Fri 22,509 Albany Advertiser Tues/Thurs 6,400/8,500 Albany Weekend Extra Weekly, Sat 18,124 Broome Advertiser Weekly, Thurs 6,800 Broome Happenings Bi-weekly, alt Thurs 7,274 Bunbury Herald Weekly, Tues 23,341 South Western Times Weekly, Thurs 13,769 Busselton-Margaret Times Weekly, Thurs 6,985 Geraldton Guardian Mon, Wed, Fri 7,362 Midwest Times Weekly, Thurs 20,650 Northern Guardian Weekly, Wed 4,635 Great Southern Herald Weekly, Wed 2,600 Harvey Reporter Weekly, Tues 7,295 Manjimup Bridgetown Times Weekly, Wed 3,171 Narrogin Observer Weekly, Wed 3,061 North-West Telegraph Weekly, Wed 7,100 Sound Telegraph Weekly, Wed 43,054 Capes Herald Weekly, Tues 13,414 Pilbara News Weekly, Wed 6,806 Quokka Weekly, Thurs 48,690 Countryman Weekly, Thurs 9,941
Community Newspapers Canning Times Weekly, Tues 49.9% 34,565 Comment News Weekly, Tues 49.9% 51,193 Eastern Reporter Weekly, Tues 49.9% 68,337 Fremantle-Cockburn Gazette Weekly, Tues 49.9% 47,025 Guardian Express Weekly, Tues 49.9% 38,108 Hills Gazette Weekly, Sun 49.9% 41,000 Joondalup-Wanneroo Times Weekly, Thurs 49.9% 88,976 Melville Times Weekly, Tues 49.9% 40,138 Midland-Kalamunda Reporter Weekly, Tues 49.9% 37,669 Southern Gazette Weekly, Tues 49.9% 47,713 Stirling Times Weekly, Tues 49.9% 50,192 Wanneroo Times Weekly, Tues 49.9% 71,694 Weekend Courier Weekly, Fri 49.9% 42,981 Western Suburbs Weekly Weekly, Tues 49.9% 47,965 North Coast Times Weekly, Tues 49.9% 15,919 Mandurah Coastal Times Weekly, Wed 49.9% 38,204
Major Owner Owned by West Australian Newspapers Holdings Ltd, a public company with about 30,000 shareholders with no dominant holder.
Company Directors W G Kent AO (Chairman) E Fraunschiel K.Steinke (Managing Director) P J Mansell M K Ward AO 89 Australian Press Council Annual Report 2007-2008
Complaints 2007-2008 by category of complaint
90 Annual Report 2007-2008 Australian Press Council
Complaints 2007-2008 by method of disposal
91 Australian Press Council Annual Report 2007-2008
Adjudications 1988-2008 year by year comparison
92