14 Australian Press Council News, August 1999

PRESS COUNCIL ADJUDICATIONS

had suggested that an apology be given - or that the then police minister and ADJUDICATION NO. 1023 rather it published a statement from the premier, Sir Robert Askin, had "aided ABA that it had not asked for an apology. and abetted" Mr Allan in his attempts to This was technically correct in that the ABA discredit Mr Arantz. The Press Council has dismissed a had not used its compulsory power to direct The paper declares that Mr Reading, who complaint brought by the Foundation that an apology be given. Rather it had for Humanity's Adulthood about a story is a former press secretary to Sir Robert suggested that the ABC so act. The Council Askin and well-known for his defence of published in The Morning considers that the article could give the Herald on 17 October 1998. Sir Robert's reputation, is wrong on all wrong impression of an important aspect of three points. The Foundation is a registered charity the ABA's action. It could be argued that the that was founded to support the ideas and ABA's suggestion that an apology be given The arguments over the case have been work of biologist Jeremy Griffith which was a significant act on its part. canvassed many times in the media, and deal with the reconciliation of science and there seems little point in the Press Council Had the paper noted the suggestion, its attempting any ab initio re-assessment at religion. The Foundation has been the summary would have been more complete. subject of criticism over an extended this late stage. However, there are two However, the paper's report was accurate as salient points: period by the Reverend Dr David Millikan, far as it went. a Uniting Church minister. This criticism • Mr Allan took early retirement, formed the basis of a Four Corners The repetition of the statements relating to allegedly forced to do so over the program on the ABC in 1995. The the Foundation that were made in the Four case, and Sir Robert Askin's Foundation sought review of the program Comers program were relevant to the story. reputation was tarnished. by the Australian Broadcasting Authority. The paper also published the ABA's criticism of them. The Council does not consider that • Mr Arantz was "notionally The ABA released a decision in 1998 in reinstated", received an ex-gratia which it sustained the majority of the the publication of the statements complained about breach Council principles. payment of $250,000, and has been complaints about the program made by awarded posthumously the the Foundation, it wrote separately to the The Foundation objected to Dr Millikan Commissioner's Commendation. ABC saying "out of fairness to the being interviewed and to his comments complainant it would be appropriate for relating to the Foundation being published. The Sydney Morning Herald was justified the ABC to broadcast some form of an It said that it would not have co-operated in publishing the story as it did. It is clear apology to the Foundation". This was the with the paper if it had known that Dr that today's appropriate authorities accept first occasion on which the ABA had taken Millikan would also be interviewed. The that Mr Arantz was seriously mistreated such a step. It has never exercised its paper said that the interview was intended by those in charge in 1971; and at the head power to make a formal recommendation to provi de balance for the story. The Council of those in charge were the then police to the ABC. believes that the paper acted reasonably and commissioner, Mr Allan, and the then police minister, Sir Robert Askin. Following this ruling, the Foundation this aspect of the complaint is also dismissed. placed advertisements in a number of Mr Reading further complains that the newspapers that, along with announcing paper refused to publish a letter from him the launch of its website, referred to the ADJUDICATION NO* 1024 attempting to refute the statements made ABA's decision and claimed - erroneously about Mr Allan and Sir Robert Askin. The - that the ABA had asked the ABC to paper answers that Mr Reading's defence apologise to the Foundation. The ad The Press Council has dismissed a of the Askin era is well known and has criticised the ABC for failing to issue an complaint from Geoffrey Reading against been well covered. Further, the paper — apology. The Sydney Morning Herald The Sydney Morning Herald over an article and apparently the concerned authorities story reported these events but it also published on 3 December 1998 on the today — has made its judgments and sees summarised aspects of the Four Comers posthumous award of a high police honour no reason to revise them. program and included comments from to a detective who was sacked 27 years ago. The Press Council accepts that position. Dr Millikan and the ABC. The detective, Philip Arantz, was fired for The Foundation's complaint is directed passing to the Herald in 1971 computer- primarily to four matters: the headlines based information allegedly showing that ADJUDICATION NO. 1025 on both the first edition and the late edition; NSW crime clear-up figures had been the accuracy of the reporting of the ABA falsified for years. This whistle-blowing decision; the repetition of allegations about exercise resulted, as well as his dismissal, in The Australian Press Council has upheld the Foundation that were made in the him being accused of being mad and a complaint by the Federal Council of Four Comers program; and the paper's spending three days in a psychiatric unit Polish Associations of against action in seeking comments from Dr proving he was sane. the Australian newspaper's magazine Millikan. Mr Arantz, who died in March 1998 aged 68, over its reference to "a Polish The Council considers that the headlines never served again, although he was concentration camp". "'Adult' philosopher spits the dummy "notionally reinstated" in the police force in While it was only a tangential reference in over TV expose" (first edition) and "The the 1980s and was given an ex-gratia a long article about the Vatican and its prophet of Adulthood is back, and on the payment of $250,000 but not a pension. His attitudes to sainthood, the reference did attack" (late edition), reflected its content widow has now received on his behalf the cause offence to Polish and and could not be considered unfair or Police Commissioner's Commendation for the newspaper failed to take adequate offensive to Mr Griffith. Outstanding Service. action to redress the offence. The summary of the ABA decision quoted In his complaint, Mr Reading disputes that The editor-in-chief maintained that its findings that were favourable to the the crime figures were falsified, or that the readers would have known the historical Foundation and critical of the program. then police commissioner, NTW Allan, had context of the reference, in that the However, it did not indicate that the ABA seriously suggested that Mr Arantz was mad, concentration camps on Polish soil during Australian Press Council News, August 1999 15

the Second World War were in fact set up however, that she was unwilling at that and run by Nazi Germany. For that reason, ADJUDICATION NO. 1027 stage to make any firm commitments to the newspaper did not publish any future plans. correction or apology. The Press Council has dismissed a The Council believes great care is required However, the Council finds that the words complaint against The Daily Mercury by in deciding the extent to which private were ambiguous and the reference the Mackay District Health Service, about individuals' circumstances should be offensive to . It would the publication of a photograph, and the exposed to illustrate issues of public have been harmfully misleading to younger methods used to obtain it, for a report on a concern. In this instance however, it is readers and others whose knowledge of temporary aged care facility in the city's difficult to see how the five residents, the Second World War is hazy or non­ base hospital. whose faces were obscured in the existent. photograph, would have suffered any The front-page report ("Aged Care Scandal. detriment from its publication, whether The newspaper contended the complaint Concerned staff risk jobs to expose hospital or not they consented to its being taken. was only an argument about words. It was conditions") described the facility as "a sad, more than that and the Press Council dark and crowded place without identity or upholds the complaint because of the direction". It listed concerns of "a small newspaper's failure to redress the hurtful delegation of hospital staff" about safety ADJUDICATION NO. 1028 mistake. and care shortcomings attributable to physical conditions in the facility. The However, it does reject the complainant's The Press Council has dismissed a photograph, showing a group of five further argument that the newspaper was complaint from Neil Jenkins against The residents in a TV room, was modified to conducting a deliberate campaign of Herald Sun, . slander against and Polish obscure their faces. The article under the by-line of the paper's Australians. There is no evidence of that The report appeared two days after a visit to Chief Police Reporter, entitled "Pocketful and the newspaper has, in fact, on at least Mackay by Queensland Cabinet Ministers, of Menace", is an analysis of the issues one earlier occasion apologised for a similar including the Health Minister. It stated that arising from the number of handguns mistake. during the visit, the staff delegation had "flooding" Australia. confronted the Minister, hoping for some reassurance about Government intentions Mr Jenkins complains the article was ADJUDICATION NO. 1026 to improve aged care facilities in Mackay as biased against hand-gun owners and part of a hospital redevelopment. The criticises their storage of their guns. He reassurance had not been immediately also complains that all of the reasons given The Australian Press Council has forthcoming, and the staff were said to have for the "flood " of hand guns by the Institute dismissed a complaint from Scott Balson approached the Mercury to shed further of Criminology, the main statistical source concerning an article published in the light on the issue. for the article, were not used by the Courier-Mail, 20 March 1999, under the reporter, but only the reason concerning The Mackay Di strict Health Service accepted heading "Web of racism traps One stolen firearms, with the quote "more often the public interest nature of the report. Its than not thieves target gun shops and Nation". complaint centred on the Mercury's reporter steal pistols". His complaint was that "The headline on and photographer entering the aged care the article is a lie because my @notd [Mr facility without official approval, and on the In the Council's opinion the article sets Balson's internet-published newspaper] taking and publication of a photograph, out facts and figures on the matter without has absolutely no link with One Nation". allegedly without the residents' consent and bias and with no reflection on gun owners The Courier-Mail argued that the absence in breach of their privacy. or their safe storage of legal firearms. Rather the concept that criminals find it of a disclaimer on the @notd site and the In rejecting the complaint, the paper noted easy to acquire hand-guns is stressed. The fact that readers were "presented with a that the report had been the culmination of views of several prominent people, from website promoting One Nation activities a six-month investigation into aged care all sides of the debate, are quoted. and views, published and conducted by facilities at the hospital, inspired by repeated One Nation's webmaster" were a sufficient complaints by staff and relatives of patients. The Council finds the journalist had a basis to justify a connection between One right to use a part of the Institute's research The Mercury said it had been invited to Nation and Mr Balson's internet site. for his article and its use did not inspect the facilities by an anonymous "key demonstrate a bias against hand-gun On the other hand Mr Balson points out staff member", and that its photographer owners. that there was a disclaimer on his had obtained the consent of the group before company's home page which was readily taking the picture which appeared in print accessible to readers and that the domain the next day. name of his internet site and that of One ADJUDICATION NO. 1029 The central issue for the Council is whether Nation's were clearly different. He also public interest considerations underlying said that "my paper carries my view s and the report and photograph outweighed what The Press Council has dismissed NOT THOSE OF ONE NATION and the the Health Service felt were unethical complaints from the Jabiluka Action entries carried have no authorisation from practices, and the paper acknowledged were Group against The Advertiser, the One Nation executive". He further "unusual circumstances", in their Adelaide, over reports on an anti­ says that this point was made clear to the preparation. uranium protest staged in the city last reporter. The Council believes that, in this case, the December. Having considered all of the material and Mercury's approach was justified. The reports said that police had arrested the various explanations of the parties the Significant public or private organisations three demonstrators during a melee after Press Council finds that a reasonable providing community services, such as a one officer had been hit on the head with reader would find a connection between hospital, are legitimate subjects of media a placard and others had been pushed and Mr Balson's website and One Nation. scrutiny, and the Council accepts that it may shoved, and a police baton stolen. The not always be appropriate or fruitful for a protesters had also begun to spray slogans paper to seek official approval of its line of on construction site panelling. A picture enquiry. published with the report showed police The front-page report was balanced by an grabbing a protester's shirt in what article on the following page reporting the appeared to be a general melee. Health Minister's comments on the aged The Action Group denies that the care issue in Mackay, which made it clear, demonstrators had "turned on police" and 16 Australian Press Council News, August 1999

suggested rather police had turned on the However, it also called on "the sensible demonstrators. It claims that the police ADJUDICATION NO. 1031 parents of Drillham" to ask why in the later agreed that to their knowledge there future nobody would want to take over was no "placard hitting" and the baton "their school from hell". The Australian Press Council has dismissed incident consisted of a "baton being a complaint against the Courier-Mail over While it is clear the Queensland Education dislodged and then promptly returned". an editorial, 'Open season declared on the Department had real concerns about The group said the spray painting was an Net'. staffing conditions at Drillham, some of art form to carry the anti-uranium message the facts stated in the article are in dispute. to the public, as had been done previously, The complaint was made by Maurice The Press Council is not in a position to peacefully elsewhere. The paper had also Horsburgh who claimed the editorial made know the truth or otherwise of the failed to report adequately the message of "scurrilous and untrue references" about disputed allegations. However, the article opposition to uranium mining in Kakadu Scott Balson and his Internet page. made no attempt to reflect opinion or National Park. The main thrust of the editorial was that, statements from local residents which, in The group also made minor points about while freedom of speech remains one of the the Council's view, created a serious lack the timing and exact location of the protest, most fundamental rights of all Australians, of balance; nor did the newspaper take and claims the paper's estimate of 300 the laws which prohibit incitement, reasonable steps afterwards to provide demonstrators was half its own. defamation and vilification on the grounds adequate balance. of race or gender "should not be suspended The Press Council finds that the news Whatever the exact cause, it is clear there the moment one logs on to the Net". was a melee and three demonstrators story of 13 December 1998, which was arrested. Most of the charges were later In relation to Mr Balson, the editorial otherwise a straight report of the claims describes him as disseminating offensive dropped. and responses arising from the previous and anti-Semitic material that would, in any day's article, contained a picture caption The complaint does, however, illustrate other forum, place him at risk of prosecution. ("Hillbilly: The school that expelled three the prime importance of attribution in It is a matter of record that Mr Balson has principals") that was inaccurate and reports of incidents which involve been the subject of earlier controversies in derogatory to an entire community. uncertain numbers and confused actions. Each side in this confrontation would have the newspaper over material on his website. seen what it wanted to see, with little or no The Press Council believes the Courier-Mail certainty for the reporters to grasp. editorial is moderate, fair and balanced ADJUDICATION NO. 1033 Thus, the Press Council asks papers to opinion. take great care in matters of likely The Australian Press Council has upheld controversy, with particular attention to in part a complaint against The Sun- the need to identify reporting of what ADJUDICATION NO. 1032 Herald by Associate Professor Susan witnesses say they saw, heard or Hayes, who is head of Sydney experienced. University's Department of Behavioural The Australian Press Council has upheld Science and Medicine. complaints from Valerie Sturrock against the Courier-Mail and the Sunday Mail over Prof Hayes complained that an article in ADJUDICATION NO. 1030 an opinion column and a news report the newspaper's edition of 2 May this year published on 12 December 1998 and 13 seriously harmed her professional December 1998 respectively. standing and reputation by implying that The Press Council has dismissed she had revealed confidential information. complaints by Kym Smith and Josephine Both articles were about allegations that a Michell against The Advertiser, Adelaide. principal at the State School in Drillham, a The article was about the much-publicised The complaints concern the publication small town on the Darling Downs in stalking case which involved Catherine on 27 January of a picture accompanying Queensland, had sought a transfer from the McClements, star of the TV series 'Water a front page story. The story was related school because of harassment and Rats', being harassed for two years by an to cricket umpire Ross Emerson who victimisation at the hands of the local obsessed young woman named Jodie gained a degree of notoriety following townspeople. She was the third principal at Filetti. his no-balling of Sri Lankan cricketer the school in a twelve-month period. Ms Filetti had been examined by Prof Muttiah Muralitharan for throwing. The principal, Joanne Mitchell, had Hayes, who wrote a psychological report The picture showed Mr Emerson standing complained to the police at a nearby town for the benefit of the Magistrate's Court on the footpath apparently waiting for a (Drillham does not have a police station) hearing charges against the stalker. taxi to take him to the airport. The that she had been subjected to threatening The Sun-Herald article quoted freely from accompanying caption to the picture telephone calls, that people had bashed on this report which contained many details referred to Mr Emerson "leaving his her windows at night and yelled abuse at of Ms Filetti's obsessive behaviour and Hindley St hotel ...". Prominently her, and that her cat and dog had been was handed to a journalist by court staff as appearing in the background of the picture poisoned. The matter had been referred to part of a file. was a sign "CLUB X" and, in some editions, the Teachers' Union and to the Queensland The Press Council agrees with Prof Hayes a partly obscured but readable "Adult Minister for Education, Dean Wells, who that the article failed to make clear that Centre". In the first edition of the paper Mr had threatened to close down the school. Emerson's hotel was named but the second she had not volunteered the information and later editions omitted this reference. The complainant, Mrs Sturrock, says that directly to the journalists involved, but The complainants assert that the sign would the opinion column, written by a regular that it had been obtained from the court be taken by readers to refer to the place columnist, was "full of misinformation and file. vilification" about the people of Drillham, where Mr Emerson was staying. Despite an approach from Prof Hayes, the that it contained "monstrous lies", was "ill- The newspaper said that the picture had newspaper did not subsequently provide tempered, biased and unprofessional" and been cropped to fit the page and that to an adequate clarification of the fact that was defamatory. have omitted the background would also she had not directly supplied the have required the cropping from the picture The Press Council agrees that the column information to the newspaper. To this of Mr Emerson's luggage. was strongly-worded. It was headlined extent, the complaint is upheld The Council finds that there was nothing in "Lesson of shame in town from hell". It the article to justify the inference that Mr referred to the "morons" and "intellectual Emerson's accommodation was in some dwarfs" who had used Ms Mitchell as a way associated with the Club X. target for "their red-neck frustrations". Australian Press Council News, August 1999 17

Rosenman, its then director, and others some woman's death. ADJUDICATION NO. 1034 six weeks prior to his suicide. They said Dr The statutory declaration was furnished Rosenman was correct in his assessment to The West Australian and its substance, which was reported in the newspaper. The Press Council has dismissed a but not its text, was reported in the paper. complaint by Virginia Robison against Dr Rosenman said that he had "no objection Ms Quinlivan declined to make the The Sun-Herald, about an opinion to the content of the article". He considered statutory declaration available to the Post column critical of the recent NATO it a "fair" report of the available material. or speak to the paper except on terms that campaign against Serbia, prompted by However the nub of his complaint was that the Post would not accept. The Post did, the 'ethnic cleansing' of Kosovo. the publication of his photograph with the however, publish the substance of what caption, "Dr Rosenman: assessed man as Dr Quinlivan had been reported as saying, The column ("Once were heroes") sought not having a psychiatric illness", suggests a together with a letter from a member of to contrast the Serbs "who valiantly fought particular responsibility for the fatal the public supporting her character. But it against Hitler and remained undefeated outcome. also published material calling into in World War II" with the "leaders of question the accuracy of Dr Quinlivan's Kosovo's so-called liberation front [who] Dr Rosenman claimed that comments from statements. are bandits and mercenaries, armed and colleagues, patients and others confirmed financed by deeply right-wing forces". It that the article affected his professional Ms Quinlivan's complaint to the Council was a robust piece, punctuated by a standing. involved a number of issues. First that the number of provocative assertions. In reply the newspaper stated that the release editor of the Post had failed to disclose that he and the author of the book are Ms Robison complained that the article of the Mental Health Service response to the associates. The preface to the book presented a distorted and inaccurate Coroner was a fresh development which discloses the assistance afforded to the picture of the Kosovo conflict, and she they were legitimately following up. The author by the editor. The Council does took offence at its omission of any reference service did reject criticism of their not consider that the failure by the Post to to the widely-reported atrocities organisation and the heading reflected the disclose this in the articles that it published committed against the Kosovar Albanians. content of the article. is a breach of the Council's principles. She considered that, by publishing the The use of his photograph drew attention to article, The Sun-Herald was condoning Dr Rosenman. It is true that, at the time in The second issue is that the Post published genocide by the Serbs. question, he was the director of Mental material that had been provided to the West Australian in confidence. The In a private letter to Ms Robison, the paper Health Services and had been one of those Council is not in a position to judge expressed regret that she had been responsible for assessing Mr Camden's whether this occurred but in any case this offended by the column. However, it said mental health. The Council believes the would not be a basis to sustain a complaint that its author, as a columnist, was entitled picture caption could have been better against the Post. There was no relationship to express his point of view, however phrased but the article makes clear Dr of confidence between the Post and Ms controversial. Rosenman's role in this matter. Quinlivan. Ms Robison found this unsatisfactory, A succinct letter to the newspaper from Dr The principal issue seems to be that Ms challenging the paper's right to support a Rosenman, if published, could have clarified Quinlivan believes that the Post is writer whose column, in her view, his areas of concern. presenting the case for Mr Button in an breached Press Council principles of unfair manner in that it has given accuracy, fairness and avoidance of insufficient prominence or credence to offence, among others. ADJUDICATION NO. 1036 her mother's statement. The question of The opinion column was written in the Button's guilt or innocence is a matter of context of the broad coverage of the The Australian Press Council has long-standing controversy. There is Kosovo conflict in The Sun-Herald and contradictory evidence. The Post has other media. It was but one opinion in dismissed a complaint made against the Subiaco Post by Lynette Quinlivan. chosen to come down on Button's side but that coverage. The Council's approach in it has referred in its reporting to the similar matters has been to allow The complaint arose from the reporting of contrary views, albeit to question them. It newspapers considerable latitude in what circumstances relating to the conviction in has published the gist of Dr Quinlivan's they publish as clearly-identified opinion 1963 of John Button for the manslaughter of statement which, it must be said, does not pieces. By their very nature, such pieces a woman. A convicted and subsequently accord in all respects with the evidence often provoke disagreement amongst executed murderer, Eric Cooke, claimed given by her husband during the trial of some readers, who are encouraged to write after his arrest in 1964 to have killed the Button. a letter to the editor putting their woman. The truth of this confession by A newspaper is entitled to take a side in alternative point of view. Cooke has been the subject of considerable controversy over many years. A new book matters of controversy and, provided that on the topic claims to have discovered it does not actively mislead its readers, it is entitled to attempt to refute contrary ADJUDICATION NO. 1035 evidence supporting Button's assertion of innocence. The Post has given much views. The Council considers that the publicity to this book and has strongly Post has done no more than this and The Australian Press Council has supported the claims by the author that accordingly the complaint is dismissed. dismissed a complaint from Dr Stephen Button suffered a miscarriage of justice. Rosenman against a report published by Ms Quinlivan's late father was the doctor to the Times 29 March 1999. whose surgery Button took the injured ADJUDICATION NO. 1037 The report headed, "ACT Mental Health woman. He subsequently gave evidence at rejects care criticism", displayed a Button's trial relating to Button's conduct at The Press Council dismisses the photograph of Dr Rosenman and the time. Ms Quinlivan's mother is also a complaint of John Arnold against The summarised responses from the ACT medical practitioner. After the publication Australian Magazine for allegedly using Mental Health Services to criticism raised of the matters relating to the case by the Post an "altered" photograph in an article on on some issues by the coroner, Mr Somes, in October 1998, Dr Patricia Quinlivan swore the late Geoffrey Dutton titled "The Long into the death of Shannon Camden. a statutory declaration that she had been Goodbye". Mr Camden, a prisoner at risk, was found present in 1963 when her husband was hanging in his cell on 15 April 1996. In treating the woman. She said that she had The article, published in the 12-13 part the Mental Health Services stated heard Button confess to her husband that he December 1998 edition, concerned Mr that Mr Camden had been assessed by Dr had caused the injuries that led to the Dutton's collaboration with artist John 18 Australian Press Council News, August 1999

Olsen on a final epic poem "New York drawn-out community debate, the Council life of an Australian citizen was at risk. In Nowhere" and explored his private life in believes that interested Border Mail readers these circumstances it behoved The the last months of his life. would have had information and Sunday Telegraph to take every step to The Australian Magazine stated that it opportunity to form their own views about ensure the accuracy of what it was obtained the images from The Lytlewode a preferred bypass route, and that the articles reporting. To rely upon information from Press, publishers of the poem. It denied complained about would have served as a his mother who may well not have had an Mr Arnold's complaint, which was balanced reminder of the controversy. accurate or complete recollection of the supported by a Senior Lecturer in Arts events was insufficient. The newspaper Photography. The Lytlewode Press also should have followed up other avenues rejected the allegation and produced prints ADJUDICATION NO. 1039 before using the information and, if clear from the photographic negatives together confirmation of the fact was not available, with dates and details of other the sensitivity of the matter was such that photographs taken during the same The Australian Press Council has upheld a it should not have published the story. period. complaint by Stuart Pratt arising from articles published in The Sunday On that basis, the Council can find no Telegraph of 11 April 1999 relating to his evidence that the newspaper breached brother, Care Australia worker Steve Pratt. the principles. ADJUDICATION NO. 1040 The articles, entitled "The secret past of Aussie aid worker" and "Aid man's secret The Australian Press Council has upheld ADJUDICATION NO. 1038 UN mission", quoted Steve Pratt's mother as indicating that Pratt supplied information in part complaints by the Queanbeyan about Iraqi forces to the Mayor, Cr Frank Pangallo, over stories in the Queanbeyan Chronicle in April The Press Council has dismissed a during the . This was said to have 1999. The main complaint was over the complaint by Jennifer Hayes about a occurred when Pratt was working with headlines involved, "Mayor's Change series of articles in The Border Mail, refugees in northern and resulted in his of Mind" and "Pangallo's Back Flip". dealing with the Hume Highway bypass having to leave the country quickly as "Iraq proposed for Albury. put a price on his head". The headlines could be argued to be literally correct, but the newspaper itself The articles appeared in 5 editions of The The complainant asserts that the articles acknowledged it would have been Border Mail during the weeks leading up implied that Steve Pratt was spying for the preferable if the core of the headlines to the 27 March State election in NSW. Ms UN. He said that as Pratt was under arrest (Change of Mind, and Policy Backflip) Hayes said the articles reflected the paper's at the time in Yugoslavia where he was had included quotation marks. They were bias towards the so-called "internal serving as a Care worker this implication taken from remarks quoted in the body of bypass" (one of the possible routes for the placed him at additional risk of being the story and made by one of the Mayor's new road), and misrepresented and under­ convicted of spying in that country. The political opponents, Cr Sue Jarvis. reported the campaign opposing this complainant claimed that the information route, supported by an independent was inaccurate as Steve Pratt was working The essence of the stories, the first on page candidate in the election, Mrs Claire for the Australian Army at the time of the two, was a controversy over whether the Douglas. Gulf War, not Care Australia and was not in Queanbeyan Council was planning to sell the local water and sewerage services to To illustrate her complaint, Ms Hayes Iraq during the war. It was also said that the the nearby and larger water authority in pointed to a headline ('ALP: Save Our understanding of Mrs Pratt of the facts Canberra. City told us that on freeway...THEY reported was not shared by other members CONCEDE But Douglas angrily denies of the Pratt family; that the paper had, in any Earlier, Mayor Pangallo had campaigned the claim'), and to "gross distortion" in a case obtained the information unfairly and (unsuccessfully) for a state pa rliament seat front-page report of a statement by Mrs that Mrs Pratt was not expecting her story to as an independent on a platform which Douglas that she and her family would be published; and that the newspaper had included opposition to "the wholesale sell- leave Albury if the internal bypass went been alerted to these matters before reporting off of community assets". ahead. She also found that an editorial the information. Further, the family claims that they asked the paper not to report the In fact, as the Queanbeyan Chronicle suggesting some ALP members were accurately reported in its 13 April stories, having second thoughts about directing interview with Mrs Pratt. Having regard to the sensitivity of the issue, it was incumbent the Mayor had signalled that there were preferences to Mrs Douglas constituted a no firm plans to sell the water and blatant attempt to manipulate ALP voters. on the paper to be quite sure that the story it published was correct in every respect. sewerage authority and that there would The Border Mail rejected Ms Hayes' be widespread consultation before any complaint, maintaining that it was The newspaper maintains that it did no decision was made. objectively reporting all sides of the bypass more than accurately report what had been said to it by Steve Pratt's mother. It denied Commendably, the newspaper explained debate. It noted that both the major parties the position even more clearly in later in State Parliament had indicated their that the articles implied that Pratt had spied during the Gulf War and said that it was not editions and prominently published a support for the internal route, and that it letter from Mayor Pangallo. credible that they would have any influence would have been grossly negligent to have Had quotation marks been used in the ignored this unanimity. on decisions of Yugoslav authorities. It said that Mrs Pratt was aware that she was talking original headlines, making clear that this For the Press Council, the central question to a journalist and that its attempts to obtain was a claim not a fact, those headings is whether readers of The Border Mail further information in relation to Mrs Pratt's would not have given the wrong were given fair and balanced reports of story were frustrated by lack of cooperation impression of the Mayor's position and the various candidates' views and on the part of the complainant. there would have been no cause for statements on the bypass issue. The Council considers that the articles could complaint. While some of the material submitted by be reasonably read as indicating that Steve Ms Hayes suggests that the paper's Pratt had spied for the UN when it was editorial sympathies lay with the 'internal' engaged in fighting in Iraq. It also finds that route option, the Council can find no it is naive of the paper to suggest that an convincing evidence of a bias in news allegation of this kind would not affect the coverage of the issue, or of Mrs Douglas' judgment of the Yugoslav authorities in campaign, in the lead-up to the election. considering whether to take action against In what has clearly been a robust and long Pratt. The topic was very sensitive and the Australian Press Council News, August 1999 19

controversy has raged in the Albury- ADJUDICATION NO. 1041 Wodonga region. The complainant, Bruce Gardiner, says that The Press Council has dismissed a much of what the City Manager had to say complaint by Margaret Power against was wrong, and should have been known to The Border Mail, about reporting of a be wrong. He says, too, that the Border Mail District Court conviction of a man with has openly supported the internal freeway an intellectual disability. option and it published the City Manager's reply on the eve of the NSW elections in A front-page article ("Killer to go free: March; further, the reply was published on Judge"), reported the special court hearing the day the concerns of the doctors appeared ordered for the man who had been accused in an advertisement in the paper itself. of unlawful imprisonment of a woman in 1997. The man had earlier been found The Border Mail referred Mr Gardiner's unfit to plead, but having already spent complaint to the City Manager, who replied over 18 months on remand in custody, defending his position entirely and was discharged on a three-year bond. providing material from various studies. The paper also pointed out that Mr Gardiner The article reported two of the man's other is on the Save Our City ticket for the convictions, including the manslaughter September local government elections. of a 13-year-old girl in 1983. It noted concerns expressed by the judge and the Mr Gardiner bases his complaint on two Crown prosecutor about the man's record Press Council principles, briefly they state and the prospects for his re-offending. that a paper should not publish what is false His mother's belief in his innocence was or fail to check the accuracy of what it reports, also reported. nor suppress relevant facts. Miss Power considered The Border Mail's As to the first principle, the accuracy and reporting of this matter to be intrusive. non-falsity called for here is that the City She objected both to the headline linking Manager said what he was quoted as saying, the man's latest conviction to the not that what he was saying was the "truth" manslaughter charge of some 16 years in some absolute sense. What Mr Stubbs previously, and to the publication of a had to say was up to him, it was for the paper photograph of the man. to report him accurately, and it seems it did. To call for a paper to answer for the truth of The Press Council accepts The Border sta tements made by the multitude of people Mail's contention that all the material in it quotes any day is asking far too much. the article was correct and on the public Suggesting that papers should not report record. The headline, while creating an statements made by others because the association between two events distant in editors believe them to be false amounts to a time, was not inaccurate. call for censorship. The Council has urged in previous As to the second principle, the route dispute adjudications that newspapers take has lasted for years, and the Border Mail has extreme caution not to infringe the right reported extensively on the matter. Few in to privacy of individuals who may be the Albury-Wodonga area would not know suffering from an illness or disability. the relevant facts and opinions; they do not However, in this case, this right has to be need reiteration every time the subject is weighed against the interests of the man's raised. victims and their families and the community into which he was released. Public interest might be served, it could ADJUDICATION NO. 1043 be argued, by identification by photograph, as well as by name, of a man with a history of violent offences, no matter The Australian Press Council has dismissed how conditioned by intellectual disability. a complaint from Robin Bell against an The Press Council, in this case, held in opinion article, "One small snip for man...", favour of that argument. published by The Sun-Herald on 15 May 1999. In it, the writer presents her opinion of the ADJUDICATION NO. 1042 different attitudes of men and women to the use and responsibility in contraceptive practice. The Press Council has dismissed a complaint against the Border Mail over The headline and cartoon set the tone of the a report on the dispute about the siting article which is written in a humorous and of a main road route through Albury. provocative manner. It is clearly an opinion piece and much of the content is often heard The report covered extensively a reply by in banter amongst people on social and other the Albury City Manager, Ray Stubbs, to occasions. concerns raised by 40 doctors in the Albury area about the internal (through-the-city) Mr Bell claims the article describes men as route as opposed to the external by-pass "sex crazed fiends, is offensive, inaccurate route. Mr Stubbs dismissed worries about and filled with blatant sexual bias and gender emissions from the diesels of passing based hatred". trucks, noise problems and other concerns, The Press Council believes Mr Bell's reaction quoting from studies conducted by several to be extreme and oversensitive. experts over the years during which the