General Press Release No. 224 (November 1998)

Annual Report No 22

When releasing the Annual Report of the Australian Press Council, the Chairman, Professor Dennis Pearce, said that it once again demonstrated the value of the Council to the community.

At the same time he noted that, to make itself more accessible to the public, the Council now has its own website.

At no cost to taxpayers, the Council dealt with over 400 complaints from members of the public who were concerned with material that had been published in newspapers and magazines, Professor Pearce pointed out.

He added that the Council does not require that a person be the subject of a news story to object to the story. This is different from the position in many other countries that have a mechanism for resolving complaints against the press. The right to complain there is limited to the person directly affected by the material to which objection is taken. The Australian Press Council thus provides Australian citizens with a stronger complaints mechanism. This is reflected in the number and types of complaints that the Council receives.

"The Council has dealt with complaints from members of the general public relating to the reporting of the Prime Minister's holiday arrangements, the Constitutional Convention, sporting shooters, drugs in school and other issues of general concern. Most concerns were about accuracy of reporting, misleading headlines and unfair treatment of the subject being reported. Invasion of privacy represented only a small proportion of the matters raised with the Council," Professor Pearce said.

The Council welcomes the public's interest in taking newspapers to task as indicative of the freedom that Australians have both to receive news without government control and to be able to criticise the use that the press makes of that right.

Professor Pearce noted that one of the Press Council's functions is to ensure that Australia is free from the controls that are imposed upon the press in many overseas countries. The Annual Report indicates that the Council made submissions to government on a number of matters where it considered that proposed changes in the law would limit the public's right of access to the news. Freedom of the press is a public right that needs to be vigilantly protected, he said.

The Annual Report publishes all the adjudications made by the Council in 1997-98. It also gathers together information not otherwise readily available that identifies Australian newspapers and shows their circulation and ownership. Copies of the Report are available from the Press Council office.

The Council's website (http://www.presscouncil.org.au/) provides information on the Council and its various activities and allows for the submission of complaints direct to the Council through an on-line complaints form on the site.

See also
1997-8 Freedom of the Press Report
Press Council's 1997-8 complaints statistics

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