Adjudication No. 1144 (November 2001)

The Australian Press Council has received a complaint from Shari-lea Hitchcock over an item included in an article entitled Australia's 40 Most Eligible Husbands published in the September issue of She magazine.

The item to which Ms Hitchcock objected ran under the sub-heading 'Non-Eligible Husbands (or Most Tolerant Wife Award)' and, in focusing on the private life of Melbourne businessman Richard Pratt, said, "wife Jeanne has had to share him with his long-term mistress Shari-lea Hitchcock who's also mothered his illegitimate child - and the whole world knows it".

While She magazine described the article as "a tongue-in-cheek play on the eligible bachelor concept", Ms Hitchcock claimed the item referring to Mr Pratt, herself and their child invaded the privacy of their four-year-old daughter, was not of significant public interest, was in bad taste and placed unfair gratuitous emphasis on her marital status.

Further, Ms Hitchcock objected to the word 'illegitimate', saying that its use today is insensitive pointed out that other children born out of wedlock and mentioned in the article were not described in the same way.

The Press Council recognises that the relationship between Mr Pratt and Ms Hitchcock had received wide publicity and aroused strong public interest during the early months of 2000. Therefore Council does not believe that her complaint about the magazine's unfair, gratuitous emphasis on her marital status can be sustained.

However, the Council agrees that the magazine was careless in its treatment of the sensibilities of the child and has upheld this aspect of the complaint.

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