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February 2007 - Volume 19, No.1
News in brief - February 2007 News by email News by email Press Council publications will sent by email to those who ask for delivery in that form. If you want the News sent direct to you (in pdf format) please send an email to info@presscouncil.org.au with subject line 'News by email' and you will be placed on the direct email list. [ return to top ] Return to APC News 2007 Index APC Prize There will be no Essay Prize in 2006-2007. As in 2005-2006, the Council will be making a series of awards for outstanding scholarship through the various journalism departments and faculties at Australian tertiary institutions. The Council is endowing a prize worth $300 this year, either for outstanding achievement in a course directly related to the study of print journalism, particularly in the area of ethics, or for a particular piece of work in that area. For more information on the APC Prize, its history and future [ return to top ] Return to APC News 2007 Index On the Council The representative on the Council of ACP Magazines since July 2000, Alan Deans, retired from the company at the end of 2006 and, accordingly, resigned from the Council. The company has nominated Max Walsh as his replacement. Currently serving as editor at large of The Bulletin, Max Walsh has had a distinguished career in both print journalism and television. He was formerly editor and managing editor of The Australian Financial Review and editor in chief of The Bulletin. He helped establish Channel Nine's Sunday program and he co-hosted the Carleton-Walsh Report for the ABC before moving to Channel 10 as the anchor of The Walsh Report. From 1983 to 1998 Walsh was a respected economic and political correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. He is author of the book, Poor Little Rich Country - A political history of the 1970s. [ return to top ] Return to APC News 2007 Index In the Office The Assistant to the Executive Secretary, Helen Tyreman, has moved on to greener pastures and, in her place, Emma Boreland joined the Press Council office in January 2007. Emma completed year 12 and received her HSC at Elderslie High School in December 2005 and spent the subsequent year in hospitality as a bar attendant and waitress. Emma's career ambition is to gain a degree in journalism, specialising in print media. Her dream job would be editor of Cosmopolitan, Cleo or Shop til You Drop. Emma assists the Executive Secretary with his correspondence, acts as a receptionist, maintains the filing system, looks after the stationery, organises accommodation for Press Council members and arranges in-house lunches, to name just a few of the many tasks that form part of her job. [ return to top ] Return to APC News 2007 Index Public Meeting The Press Council is travelling to Perth in March for its regular meetings. At least once a year the Council meets in a centre outside Sydney. Its most recent visit to Perth was in 1996. While in Perth, the Council will hold a public meeting on questions related to the Courts and the media. The centrepiece of the meeting will be a Public Address by the Chief Justice of Western Australian, the Hon. Wayne Martin, who will be speaking on Access to Justice - The Media, the Courts and the Public Record. Chief Justice Martin will consider public and media access to the Courts and their records. He will address the principles governing that access, and the benefits to the community generally from the widest possible public and media access to the workings of their Courts. He will also address particular aspects of access arising from the availability of new technologies, such as the Internet, and the prospect of web-based broadcasting of court proceedings. The Address will be followed by a question and discussion time. It is open to the public and admission is free. The meeting is on Thursday 22 March 2007 at 5.15 pm, with the Address to commence at 5.30 pm. It will be held in the Central Park Theatrette, Mezzanine, Central Park, 152-158 St Georges Terrace, Perth (entry via Hay Street). The Public Meeting is co-sponsored by Minter Ellison. [ return to top ] Return to APC News 2007 Index Annual Address The 2007 Annual Address will be delivered by Fairfax Media CEO David Kirk at a media lunch in Sydney on Thursday 10 May 2007. Mr Kirk's speech will address some of the contemporary issues for the press, especially those arising from the new media and convergence. The lunch is to be held in the Queen Victoria Building Tearooms from 1230 and more information is available from info@presscouncil.org.au. For more information on the Annual Address, its history and copies of earlier addresses, go to the Annual Address overview. [ return to top ] Return to APC News 2007 Index Promoting the Press Council The Council's recently re-formed Promotions Committee has been looking at ways of making the Council better known. In addition to 22 March Public meeting in Perth and the 10 May Annual Address, the committee has undertaken several other activities:
[ return to top ] Return to APC News 2007 Index Visitors On 18 January the Council had a visit from 15 students from Pacific Lutheran University of Tacoma, Washington, here as a part of their study of a comparable foreign media. This is the fourth such visit from students from that institution, and once again the visit was highly successful. [ return to top ] Return to APC News 2007 Index That word Having failed to move the Press Council (or the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission) towards a ban on the use of the allegedly offensive term 'pom' (or 'pommie'), the British People Against Racial Discrimination has taken a beer company to the Advertising Standards Bureau over an ad that says a brand is 'cold enough to scare a pom'. The bureau ruled that negative words in the ad detracted from what it said was the otherwise playful nature of the word 'pom'. It said that Pom had been given 'a derogatory and almost hostile meaning'. The ad has been withdrawn. This finding reflects an earlier HREOC determination that the term needs descriptive language to modify it before 'pom' can be offensive - a ruling derived from, and heavily based on, an even earlier Press Council adjudication. The Council is wary of becoming a de facto censor and trying to rule on press usage of words that may, from time to time, attract the opprobrium of this group or that. It is concerned with serious infractions of a newspaper's responsibility to report matters fairly and honestly. The Council is not concerned with enforcing the niceties of English usage, but with the substantial question whether readers are likely to have been misled or offended by material. It has consistently ruled that the unmodified use of the term 'pom' is not a breach of its Principles or the guidelines developed under them. Nonetheless it continues to receive more complaints about the use of the term than it does about any other allegedly racist word. [ return to top ] Return to APC News 2007 Index Fiji coup targets media In December, the Australian Press Council condemned the actions of the military in Fiji in targetting the free media. The Council's press release said: [The military's] actions to restrict the people's access to information of public interest and concern were reprehensible. The visits made earlier this week by representatives of the coup leaders to newspapers and broadcasters within the country in an attempt to censor their news coverage are unacceptable. [ return to top ] Return to APC News 2007 Index Access of journalists to sports events Also in December, the Council issued a statement strongly supporting the free access of all journalists to the reporting of news, whether it be political, economic or sports. In the light of that support, the Council is concerned that some sporting bodies are seeking to restrict the access of journalists, particularly those reporting for on-line news outlets, to events and to news conferences preceding and following events. The Council's Chairman, Professor Ken McKinnon, says, "The Press Council regards reporting of sports events as legitimate news. "It is alarmed that sports organisations, both locally and internationally, are attempting to limit coverage of events, and of press conferences, as part of agreements with broadcast (and on-line) partners. "Our general and strong position is that there should be minimum interference with the collection and reporting of news, in words and images, whatever the form that news takes." While the Council's concerns are to ensure the access of journalists to public events, it noted a particular concern with the actions of Cricket Australia, which is attempting to limit access for on-line journalists and limit the way in which newspaper's on-line sites report the news on the current Test series. "Its threat to remove the accreditations of press journalists covering the Third Test in Perth as a ploy to force newspapers to curtail their on-line news coverage is totally unacceptable. "Cricket Australia has not been reticent in using the print media to promote its own commercial interests and is now seeking to limit the ability of Australians to view, and receive updates on, news events. Perhaps sports organisations should consider how much they have benefited from the free coverage they have received in the print media. "Journalists should be allowed to do their job, no matter what medium they report in," Professor McKinnon concluded. [ return to top ] Return to APC News 2007 Index Traumatic events in small communities The Council has further discussed the general questions arising from Adjudications 1333, 1334, 1335 and 1336 and has decided against issuing specific guidelines about the behaviour of newspapers and other outlets and of journalists during the coverage of horrific car accidents and other traumatic events in small communities. Instead, it has asked the Executive Secretary to seek access to the codes for dealing with such matters from the publishers who are the Constituent Bodies of the Council. Advice on dealing with complaints about such matters will be based on those codes. [ return to top ] Return to APC News 2007 Index Complaints about websites The Press Council accepts complaints about the news websites of its publisher members. While it deals with complaints about all publicly available print periodicals, whether affiliated or not, the Council restricts its remit over the Internet to the news websites of its members - so that in their case, it deals with complaints irrespective of the medium used to carry that news. It has now adopted some guidelines on the handling of complaints about newspaper and magazine websites, which it is trying out. The Council suggests that it is reasonable to expect that someone complaining about something on a newspaper or magazine website would contact the website (or its publisher) first, particularly if there is a degree of urgency. In the event that the complaint has not been addressed satisfactorily, because of the speed at which Internet publication is achieved, a procedure slightly varied from that applied to the print press will be applied: The Council will notify the relevant website immediately it receives a complaint. The website publisher is advised that a complaint has been accepted and has the option of removing the item, affixing an indicator on the item to the effect that it is disputed, or taking no action pending processing of the complaint if it is accepted by the Council. The complaint, if accepted, is then processed according to usual procedures. Any action taken by the website upon notification of the complaint can be taken into account if the Council adjudicates the complaint. This process and the need for prompt attention may reduce the scope for mediation or negotiated settlements. However these options would be offered if appropriate if the complaint is accepted. [ return to top ] Return to APC News 2007 Index Case Studies The Council agreed to run the seminars again in 2007. It asked Office Manager, Deborah Kirkman, again to coordinate the seminars for universities, publishers and members. Following discussion within the Council of the 2006 Case Studies, the Council decided that the four subject areas in 2007 would be confronting images; inaccuracy and balance in the regional press; the privacy of families of public figures; and offensiveness and/or racial disparagement in news reports. [ return to top ] Return to APC News 2007 Index Conciliated complaints The Council office tries to solve matters by direct contact with the publication concerned. This often leads to a settlement of the matter satisfactory to both parties. On rare occasions, a Public Member of the Council will convene a face-to-face conciliation, by agreement with the parties. Below are some examples of the matters recently settled in these ways.
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