General Press Release No. 274 (November 2006)

Annual Report No. 30

The Australian Press Council in its thirtieth annual report, issued today, suggests that the position of free speech in Australia has badly deteriorated over the past few years, but that the decline has been piecemeal so that there has yet to be the recognition of how badly traditional rights to access to information of public interest and concern have been eroded.

In his Foreword to the report, the Council's Chairman, Professor Ken McKinnon notes

... the whittling down, bit by bit, of the long tradition of press freedom in Australia, the erosion of the right and obligation of the press to inform the public without censorship or restrictions, continues in many different ways. Unfortunately not in such chunks that the public has yet become alarmed. Will the Australian public ever arrive at a point where it marshals counter forces, or registers its disapproval of its right to access to information indispensable to informed citizenship in a vibrant democracy?

The Council has become increasingly busy over the last few years in matters relating to maintenance of the capacity of the print media to report matters of public interest freely, fully and fairly. Restrictions on journalistic access and on the availability of information to the public have increased. The willingness of governments and government departments to meet their responsibilities to keep the public informed is noticeably decreasing. They use an increasing array of strategies and tactics to inhibit or prevent access.

The report details a number of the current attempts to restrict reporting on matters of public concern, and on the Council's efforts to deal with these, in areas as diverse as freedom of information laws, the use of suppression in Australian courts, legislation aimed at combating the threat of terrorism, and the increased use of spin and leaks by governments and other institutions. These developments have seen Australia drop to thirty-fifth on the league table of press freedom issued by Reporters sans Frontieres.

In addition to its activities in dealing with threats to a free press, the Council encourages a responsible press by dealing with complaints from the public about newspapers and magazines and the annual report demonstrates that fewer complaints received by the Council are now dealt with by means of an adjudication. Many more complainants have their matters mediated successfully by the Council or are satisfied by actions taken by the publication. Over 52 per cent of all complaints are now settled amicably in these ways.

In 2005-2006, the Council received 420 written complaints. (Many other complainants do not proceed to a formal complaint after telephone call or email to the Council leads to contact with the publication that settles their concerns.) Very few of these needed an adjudication from the Council and there were 30 such findings issued, of which 17 upheld the complaints in whole or in part.

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 about 20 per cent of complaints. There was an increase in the sensitivity of readers to confronting images and material alleged to have disparaged ethnic or religious groups - these totalling about 12 per cent of all complaints. Complaints about invasion of privacy by the press were, again, a minor component of the complaints received (around 5.5 per cent).

During the year the Council was also compiled the inaugural State of the News Print Media in Australia report. This has now been printed and is available from the Council's office.

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

Copies of the report are available from the Press Council office and a  pdf of it has been posted to the Council's website.

see also
2006 State of the News Print Media in Australia report
Complaints Statistics 2005-2006
Report on free speech issues 2005-2006
Complaints not Adjudicated 2005-2006

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