General Press Release No. 222 (August 1998)

>Republication of photo condemned

The Australian Press Council has condemned the republication by The Townsville Bulletin of a photograph, the original publication of which the Council had found irresponsible.

The photograph, showing a woman performer's face contorting as air was sucked from a plastic bag she was wearing, was one of a number illustrating a story about a performance of the Jim Rose circus.

The Council upheld a complaint that the photograph might have encouraged children to perform a similar act, with possible fatal consequences, and should not have been published.

The photo was republished next to the publication of the Council's adjudication and an editorial comment rejecting the Council's conclusion about the original complaint.

The Council reminds editors that action of this kind risks undermining the principles of self-regulation. The Council acknowledges that a newspaper may make editorial comment on an adjudication but republication of material found to infringe the Council's principles is entirely unacceptable.

A copy of the adjudication is available.

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