Adjudication No. 1410  (adjudicated October 2008)

The Australian Press Council has dismissed a complaint against The Advertiser, Adelaide over a comment piece headed Red meat's tick of approval, which supported human consumption of red meat. It was published on May 17.

The comment, in Tim Lloyd's Heritage Matters column, was published three days after a report about a journal article by dietician Suzie Ferrie and animal liberationist and vegan diet advocate Geoff Russell attacking the credibility of the CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet. That report included a balancing comment from the diet's co-author.

Mr Russell initially complained that Mr Lloyd's comment piece was intended to discredit him and Ms Ferrie by stating "Australian campaigners have fallen into the trap of quoting US-derived figures for the costs to the environment of growing red meat".

In response, the newspaper said that Mr Lloyd was not aware of Mr Russell or his views when he wrote his comment piece, and that his comment was based on material he extracted from the Internet. It noted that the column represented Mr Lloyd's opinion as a respected commentator on matters dealing with heritage. It offered to publish a letter from Mr Russell, an offer he rejected, seeking instead the publication of a 600-word balancing article. The Council notes that The Advertiser's response to Mr Russell's complaint was tardy and, because the Council's processes rely on the speedy resolution of complaints, is critical of the newspaper's delay in responding.

By the time the response was received, Mr Russell had widened his complaint to include the headline, the photo of a grazing animal, and the basis for almost every assertion in Mr Lloyd's comment.

The Council is aware that arguments about the sustainable use of land and resources for food production are complicated and technical, and that opponents are passionate and polarised in their views. In the Council's view, it was neither vital nor possible for Mr Lloyd to discuss all these issues in a brief (350-word) comment piece.

Mr Lloyd's article did not deal with the CSIRO diet, nor did it refer to the news report published three days earlier that had quoted Mr Russell's views. Mr Lloyd did not advocate any increase in red meat intake. He suggested only that people should continue eating red meat if they like it. He also pointed out they might switch from red meat to kangaroo or wild goat meat if they are concerned about the influence on the environment of red meat production.

The Council finds that the headline, Red meat's tick of approval, fairly represented Mr Lloyd's comment, that the picture of a grazing beast was a reasonable illustration, and that there is no evidence Mr Lloyd intended any criticism of Ms Ferrie and Mr Russell in an article that mentioned neither of them.

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