Adjudication No. 1152 (January 2002)

The Australian Press Council has dismissed a complaint against The West Australian which alleged that the frequent use of the word "gypsies" to describe a gang of confidence tricksters constituted an unnecessary emphasis on ethnic or national origins.

The Press Council's principles prohibit the gratuitous emphasis on the religion or nationality of any group or individual. However, publications may report and express opinions in these and other areas where it is relevant and in the public interest. In this case, the Council determined that the references complained of were relevant and in the public interest and did not result in an unfair emphasis on ethnicity.

Alan Mendelawitz complained about what he believed was an excessive number of times "gypsies" is used to describe a gang whose activities were reported on in a 13 October 2001 article headlined Tradesmen alert as band of gypsies preys on aged.

There were nine references to "gypsy" or "gypsies" in the headline and the body of the story which detailed numerous repair work and cheque scams, mainly against the aged, by a group identified as "con-artist English gypsies".

The main source of the story was the Australian Bureau of Criminal Intelligence with input from local consumer protection groups and the theme was to warn older Western Australians to watch out for the group and report incidents where they had been victimised.

In the context of the obvious public interest in the operations of the gang, the newspaper was justified in providing the essential descriptions needed for potential victims to identify the scamsters. Failure to do so could well have been a breach of a newspaper's duty to inform readers properly and accurately about matters of public interest.

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