Making a Complaint

This section provides information for people who are considering making a complaint to the Australian Press Council about material published in an Australian newspaper, magazine or associated digital outlet such as a website. This page provides information on the following four issues:

• What can be complained about?
• Who can complain?
• When should a complaint be made?
• How should a compliant be made

For information on what happens after a complaint is made to the Council, see Handling of complaints.

What can be complained about?

Types of material

• Complaints may relate to news reports, articles, editorials, letters, cartoons, images and other published material. However, the Council does not consider complaints about advertising material, except where the complaint is that the material is not clearly identifiable as advertising.
   
• Where a complaint is more appropriately dealt with by another organisation, the Council will suggest that the complainant raises the matter with that organisation. This may occur where, for example, the complaint relates to advertising, commercial operations, radio or television.

Types of publications

• The Council considers complaints about material published in Australian newspapers and magazines which are produced regularly and are available to the general public (not, for example, only to members of a particular organisation). It also considers complaints about the websites of these newspapers and magazines.
   
• Some complaints may relate to a publication which is not published by a "constituent body" of the Council (see Constituent Bodies and their Publications). The Council may consider these complaints but the publisher is not under an obligation to publish any adjudication. Complainants are welcome to check with the Council office about their options for action in these situations.
   
• Complaints are treated as being against the publication, not any individual journalist or editor. But the actions of journalists, editors or other media practitioners are likely to be the focus of the Council’s consideration in most complaints.

Legal action

• The Council’s complaints process is provided as an alternative to legal proceedings, not in addition to them. If legal proceedings have commenced, the matter cannot be dealt with. If there appears to be a significant risk that they will be commenced, the Council may decide not to consider the complaint unless the complainant undertakes that he or she will not take such proceedings.

Who can complain?

• In general, any person may lodge a complaint, irrespective of whether they are identified in the material or are directly affected by it.
   
• However, where the complaint relates to a perceived breach of privacy the Council usually will not proceed without the consent of the person or group whose privacy was directly affected. This practice has been adopted to avoid the risk that the Council’s processes, including the issue of an adjudication, may aggravate the breach of privacy.
   
• The Council may decide that a persistent complainant is vexatious and it will not consider further complaints from that person. It will only accept complaints from one publisher against another in rare circumstances, where the parties have made a substantial effort to resolve the matters between themselves.
   
• Where a number of complaints are received about the same material, the Council may decide to accept one complainant as representative of the others. In this situation, all complainants will be notified of this course of action and of the final outcome.

When should a complaint be made?

• A person can complain to the Council without having previously raised the matter with the publication. In some cases, the Council will then raise the matter directly with the publication. In other cases, it may ask the complainant to raise it with the journalist, editor or whoever else at the publication is responsible for handling complaints.
   
• Complaints to the Council must usually be made within sixty days of the day on which the relevant material was initially published or posted to a website. Exceptions may be made in special circumstances. This may apply, for example, where it was reasonable for the material not to have been noticed earlier by the complainant or there were good grounds (such as pending court proceedings) for delaying submission of a complaint.

How should a complaint be made?

   

• Complaints should be made by completing the Council’s Complaint Form and submitting it to the Council either online or by email, fax or post. As indicated on the form, it must be accompanied by a clear copy of the published material to which the complaint relates and by any other material which explains or supports the complaint. If the material is on a website, the address (URL) should be provided.
   
• If it is difficult or impossible to make a written complaint by these methods, the Council office should be contacted for advice and assistance. See Contact us for details of Council addresses.
   
• As the Council’s complaints process is a relatively informal alternative to legal proceedings, complaints should be made and pursued by complainants themselves, or their family or friends. Legal representation is permitted only in very exceptional circumstances.

Download a pdf form >> or make an online complaint >>