Adjudication No. 1266  (December 2004)

The Press Council has upheld a complaint from Edward Skuse, president of the Gold Coast District Law Association, over a front-page headline in the Gold Coast Bulletin on 6 September 2004.

The headline Lawyers order charities to throw oldies on the scrap heap led an article and editorial describing the problems charities face securing insurance coverage for volunteers over 65 years of age.

Mr Skuse argued that the editor could reasonably be expected to know the condemnation of lawyers in the headline was false. He claimed that the newspaper failed to make a prompt correction, explanation or apology and did not publish his 6 September letter to the editor that provided a swift balancing response.

The editor of the Gold Coast Bulletin wrote to Mr Skuse on 14 September 2004 and defended the headline saying it is fairly well established in Parliament and elsewhere that a nexus exists between rising insurance costs and the dubious victories of lawyers. He claimed the letter from Mr Skuse was not used, because it was similar to several others published. The Council saw evidence of one letter, critical of the headline, published by the newspaper on 9 September.

The Press Council found no justification for the headline when the article and the editorial did not mention lawyers and focussed on insurance companies as the problem in securing coverage for volunteers.

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