General Press Release No. 243 (November 2000)

Annual Report No. 24

The Australian Press Council's twenty-fourth annual report shows that it continues to be a successful self-regulatory body.

The Council deals with complaints from the public about newspapers and magazines and the report demonstrates that only a small percentage of complaints received by the Council are dealt with by adjudication. Many more complainants have their matters mediated successfully by the Council or are satisfied by actions taken by the newspaper.

In fact, so successful has the Council's mediation procedures been that the Council has decided to expand the range of alternate dispute resolution mechanisms by introducing a further option - complainants can ask for a mediation conducted by a Public Member of the Council who lives in the local area where the complainant and publication are.

In 1999-2000, the Council received 403 complaints. Only 66 of these were followed through to the final stage of the complaints procedure: the issuing of an adjudication by the Council. 76 were successfully mediated and a further 100 were withdrawn by the complainant after receipt of the publication's formal response to the complaint. (The other complaints were refused by the Council as being outside its remit; referred to other bodies; or not followed through by the complainant.)

The major areas of complaint continue to be inaccuracy (25 per cent) and imbalance - particularly the non-publication of letters to the editor - which accounts for 24 per cent of complaints. An area of complaint that attracted greater concern in the reporting year was the publication of confronting colour pictures of scenes of tragedy or violence on front pages of newspapers. 10 per cent of complaints were about allegedly offensive material. Complaints about invasion of privacy by the media were, again, a minor component of the complaints received (around 5 per cent).

The annual report marks the retirement of the Chairman of the Council, Professor Dennis Pearce, who has completed his three-year term as Chairman. He notes in his Foreword to the report:

"It is with genuine regret that I write this, my third and last introduction to the Annual Report of the Australian Press Council. I have not sought a renewal of my term as Chairman of the Council solely because other work commitments make it impractical for me to carry out the duties of the office.

"It has been an honour, a privilege and a most rewarding experience to serve as the Chairman of the Australian Press Council. It is a body that fulfils an important role and I am pleased to have been associated with it. I wish it and my successor well for the future."

The Council has appointed Professor Ken McKinnon, former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Wollongong as its new Chairman. He takes up the position on 1 December.

Apart from dealing with complaints, the Council's other major role is as a defender of the traditional freedoms of the Australian press. The Council made submissions to relevant bodies relating to a wide range of issues that affected the media, especially on proposed legislation to extend privacy protection from the government to the private sector. It also continued to seek the introduction of uniform defamation law across the various jurisdictions within Australia. The report details the Council's activities in defending press freedom.

The report notes that the denigration of the Council as a body without power does not seem to be repeated with the regularity seen in past years. Professor Pearce adds, "Perhaps this is because the Council has spoken up in relation to some more controversial instances of reporting. Perhaps it is because some newspaper editors' complaints about Council adjudications have shown that the Council has the power to sting. All Council adjudications in the last 12 months were published. The requirement that a publication print material critical of it has a much greater impact than past critics of the Council have recognised".

The report also notes steps taken by the Council to publicise its availability as a point for complaints about the press from the public. It conducted a campaign throughout the month of May with the strong support of the newspaper industry itself that provided substantial advertising space free of charge for newly designed, eye-catching advertisements relating to the Council. Members of the Council have undertaken a number of radio interviews and talk-back sessions. Training sessions and case studies seminars with journalism students and cadet journalists were also conducted. The Council's Internet site was updated, more information added and the internal navigation improved.

Also included in the annual report are detailed statistics on the formal complaints received by the Council and circulation figures on all major publishers, provided by the publishers themselves.

Copies of the report are available from the Press Council office and extracts from it, including the complaints' statistics, are posted to the Council's website.

see also
1999-2000 Freedom of the Press Report
Press Council's 1999-2000 complaints statistics
Complaints Not Adjudicated 1999-2000

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