Adjudication No. 1324  (adjudicated July 2006)

The Press Council has dismissed a complaint by Synergy Wind Pty Ltd against the Yarram Standard News relating to an article and paid advertisement both published on 10 May 2006.

The complainant is the developer of a wind farm in country Victoria. It holds the view that the newspaper has, over time, displayed bias against the wind farm. The most recent incident is the subject of the complaint. The complainant had entered into a commercial arrangement with the newspaper to insert a paid notice advising of a reward for information leading to the conviction of the person or persons responsible for damage that had occurred to the wind farm's property.

The notice was published on 10 May. In the same edition of the newspaper an article headed Wind farm petition in the post was published. The article included a reference to the reward being offered and comments from an opponent of the wind farm who advised that, while he did not condone vandalism, he believed that anyone opposed to the wind farm would not "dob in" the perpetrator(s).

The complainant argues that the newspaper must have advised the wind farm opponents of the reward prior to its publication and, after doing so, it then published negative comments from those opponents about the reward. No balancing comments from the company were sought.

The newspaper, while not addressing the accusation that it had passed on details of the commercial transaction to opponents of the wind farm, asserts that, as a small newspaper, it attempts to give the local community a voice on those matters of significant local interest. The complainant and newspaper disagree on the validity and genuineness of the newspaper's claim that it has previously offered the complainant space to put its views.

The Council believes a fair balance is fundamental in handling controversial issues. In this case, the Council does not believe additional comments from the company were required to achieve that balance and can find no breach of its principles in the newspaper's actions.

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