Adjudication No. 1311  (adjudicated March 2006)

The Australian Press Council has upheld a complaint by Mosman City Councillor Dom Lopez against the Mosman Daily over an article published on 13 October 2005.

At the centre of the complaint are comments attributed to Cr Lopez about the future purchase of a Christian Science property being offered for sale.

The article, headed Councillor's worry over "bearded men in gowns", said that Cr Lopez had said that one thing was for certain, a place of worship for any group other than Christian or Jewish faiths "would not be welcome."

The article continued:

Cr Lopez told the Daily that he was concerned with rumours that "men in flowing gowns and with flowing beards" were seen looking at the prime property.

"This is a Judeo Christian area and it would not welcome people of another faith," Cr Lopez said.

The following day Cr Lopez wrote to the Mosman Daily saying he had been misquoted and demanded a retraction.

No retraction was forthcoming and the Mosman Daily letters pages subsequently carried many letters critical of Cr Lopez' alleged comments.

Cr Lopez raised his concerns with the newspaper claiming his comments had been taken out of context and not used in full but received no satisfactory reply.

Cr Lopez issued a press release on 24 October saying that two weeks previously a reporter from the Mosman Daily had telephoned and asked "have you heard rumours about men in flowing gowns and flowing beards inspecting the Christian Science property?"

Mr Lopez said he replied saying, "I have heard those rumours from residents nearby and I feel as Mosman is predominantly a Christian/Jewish area, another faith would not be welcome unless they integrate with the local community, in the same way that my mother and father did when they came from Italy over 70 years ago to make a better life for themselves and future generations."

The Mosman Daily published excerpts from this release but did not publish the additional comment concerning his family's origins which qualified his remark concerning the religious make up of the area.

The newspaper did, after further complaint by Cr Lopez, run several letters supporting his remarks in an endeavour to balance the debate which followed the original publication. This debate was also aired in the Mosman Council with calls for Cr Lopez to resign.

By not qualifying Cr Lopez original remarks promptly the newspaper allowed the debate to continue and left itself open to criticism of sensationalism and lack of fairness and balance.

For that reason the complaint is upheld.

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