Adjudication No. 1112 (March 2001)

A complaint of deliberate bias in The West Australian's election coverage during the Western Australian elections in January 2001 from the federal Minister for Forestry and Conservation, Wilson Tuckey, has not been upheld by the Press Council.

Mr Tuckey claimed that The West Australian deliberately printed articles that were critical of certain political parties in editions where the information was not relevant, while printing extensive state-wide coverage favourable to the relevant interest groups. Specifically he claimed that an article favourable to managed-harvesting and thinning of old growth forests that he wrote was deliberately printed in the country edition and not the city edition. In his view it should have been published in the city as the Liberals for Forests Party was an urban party.

The West Australian responded that the claim of bias was spurious. "It is more of a reflection of chagrin at the replacement of an article in between-editions revision - every editor's prerogative - than of the election coverage." The paper claimed that Mr Tuckey had presented a grossly distorted view of the coverage.

The Council reviewed the coverage. It included many news reports of events related to logging old growth forests in both the city and the country editions. The issue was acknowledged to be important to the whole electorate not simply urban electors. Its opinion pieces included views across the spectrum.

In looking at the newspaper's treatment of Mr Tuckey's article, the Council found no obvious justification for his claim that the opinion piece had exclusive relevance to city voters. However, in the Council's view, his contention that issues important to country people should receive city readership is a relevant consideration.

In this case, the Council did not find his claim of bias justified. It saw the change between editions as a reasonable exercise of an editor's prerogative.

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