Adjudication No. 1349  (adjudicated March 2007)

The Western Australia Department of Premier and Cabinet has complained to the Press Council about a report in The West Australian of an interview with Premier Alan Carpenter about Government policy on global warming, and against the newspaper's treatment of a correction sought by the Government's media office.

The headline on the 4 November article read: Global warming is good for WA, says Premier. The lead sentence said: "Global warming would prove a good thing for WA, Alan Carpenter said yesterday." The rest of the article included comments the Premier was optimistic the world would find solutions to global warming, and WA would play a central role. The article was accompanied by an illustration of a salt-affected dam in WA, with a caption that said Premier Carpenter believed climate change would be good for WA.

Two days later in response to the Premier's complaint that he had not said global warming was good for WA, The West Australian reported that Mr Carpenter had performed "a back-flip", in an article headed Premier goes cold on global warming bonus. Together with the Premier's denial, the newspaper published in full the question that led to the Premier's comments, and published his reply in full. The report also included criticism of the Premier by conservation leaders.

The WA Department of Premier and Cabinet claims a breach of Press Council principles relating to accuracy; checking facts; and making amends by publishing a suitable retraction. The Department argues that the interview was clearly in the context of fighting global warming, but the headline and comment on which the lead sentence was based, taken out of this context, were misleading and harmful in that they implied the Premier thought global warming was good for WA.

In response, The West Australian says the over-riding theme in the interview was that demand for clean energy would provide a boost to WA's economy, and there would have been no complaint if the heading on the first article had said Global warming is good for WA economy, says Premier.

This goes to the nub of the matter. A reader of the full report would understand that the headline and comment refer to the fact that WA might benefit from world actions taken to fight global warming, but the casual reader scanning only the headline and lead sentence of the first article, particularly in conjunction with the photograph, would be led to a different view. This complaint is upheld.

The complaint against the second article is also upheld because it essentially repeats the initial misrepresentation of the Premier's response.

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