Adjudication No. 1329  (adjudicated September 2006)

The Australian Press Council has dismissed a complaint lodged by the mother of a 19-year-old woman whose photograph and comments were published in Zoo Confessional, a regular feature of Zoo Weekly magazine.

A May "confessional" featured photographs of two 19-year-olds, and comments from them about their sexual activities.

The complainant complained that a photograph and information were obtained when her daughter was drunk in a Sydney nightclub. The daughter signed a consent form which she later claimed she believed was only for her photo to be published in the magazine.

In a letter to the parent, the editor of Zoo Weekly said he is sorry that the publication caused upset. He said that the young woman was not intoxicated, and that the magazine still has the taped conversation. He noted that the consent form had covered her "confession" as well as the photograph. The reporter involved had left his card with the woman in case she wished to contact him again. The magazine agreed not to republish the photograph or comments.

The complaint revolves around informed consent. The Press Council acknowledges that in publications of this kind the context in which consent is obtained is an important issue for publications to consider. In this circumstance Zoo Weekly did have a process in place. The Press Council is satisfied consent was received.

return to
Adjudication index

[ return to top ]

Documents with the icon require the Acrobat Reader, a Free Utility from Adobe. Click here for more information.