Reporting Guidelines
General Press Release No. 43 (November 1981)

Government order to publish

The Australian Press Council has received a request for its views on any attempt by a government in Australia to order the press to publish any matter.

This Council affirms that no government in Australia can order that newspapers publish any information, either by way of advertisements or through news columns. It would oppose strenuously any change in this position.

Any government may, of course, place advertisements or release news to papers, seeking to convey information to the public. Newspapers in either case retain the right of refusal - legal and other constraints cover even governmental material. The council feels that a decision to publish is a matter for the discretion of the editor of the newspaper concerned and that discretion should remain with editors.

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