News in brief - November 2000

On the Council
Annual Report No. 24
A Visit to Adelaide
Case Studies Seminars
Mediation

On the Council

The Council's Chairman, Professor Dennis Pearce has retired at the end of his three-year term and a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Wollongong, Professor Ken McKinnon, has been appointed his successor. Professor McKinnon is the sixth Chairman and the first who has not been either a retired judge or Professor of Law. He takes up his position on 1 December and Vice Chairman Lange Powell is acting Chairman in the interregnum. A full account of these changes is contained in the front-page story in this issue of the News.

The Council has noted with regret the passing of its inaugural APC medal winner, David McNicoll. David was a founding member of the Council in 1976 and served continuously on the Council until his retirement due to ill-health in 1999. A note about him and the impression he left on the Council is elsewhere in this issue.

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Annual Report 24

The Australian Press Council's twenty-fourth annual report shows that it continues to be a successful self-regulatory body.

The Council deals with complaints from the public about newspapers and magazines and the report demonstrates that only a small percentage of complaints received by the Council are dealt with by adjudication. Many more complainants have their matters mediated successfully by the Council or are satisfied by actions taken by the newspaper.

In fact, so successful has the Council's mediation procedures been that the Council has decided to expand the range of alternate dispute resolution mechanisms by introducing a further option - complainants can ask for a mediation conducted by a Public Member of the Council who lives in the local area where the complainant and publication are.

In 1999-2000, the Council received 403 complaints. Only 66 of these were followed through to the final stage of the complaints procedure: the issuing of an adjudication by the Council. 76 were successfully mediated and a further 100 were withdrawn by the complainant after receipt of the publication's formal response to the complaint. (The other complaints were refused by the Council as being outside its remit; referred to other bodies; or not followed through by the complainant.)

The major areas of complaint continue to be inaccuracy (25 per cent) and imbalance - particularly the non-publication of letters to the editor - which accounts for 24 per cent of complaints. An area of complaint that attracted greater concern in the reporting year was the publication of confronting colour pictures of scenes of tragedy or violence on front pages of newspapers. 10 per cent of complaints were about allegedly offensive material. Complaints about invasion of privacy by the media were, again, a minor component of the complaints received (around 5 per cent).

The annual report marks the retirement of the Chairman of the Council, Professor Dennis Pearce, who has completed his three-year term as Chairman. He notes in his Foreword to the report:

It is with genuine regret that I write this, my third and last introduction to the Annual Report of the Australian Press Council. I have not sought a renewal of my term as Chairman of the Council solely because other work commitments make it impractical for me to carry out the duties of the office.

It has been an honour, a privilege and a most rewarding experience to serve as the Chairman of the Australian Press Council. It is a body that fulfils an important role and I am pleased to have been associated with it. I wish it and my successor well for the future."

Apart from dealing with complaints, the Council's other major role is as a defender of the traditional freedoms of the Australian press. The Council made submissions to relevant bodies relating to a wide range of issues that affected the media, especially on proposed legislation to extend privacy protection from the government to the private sector. It also continued to seek the introduction of uniform defamation law across the various jurisdictions within Australia. The report details the Council's activities in defending press freedom.

The report notes that the denigration of the Council as a body without power does not seem to be repeated with the regularity seen in past years. Professor Pearce adds, "Perhaps this is because the Council has spoken up in relation to some more controversial instances of reporting. Perhaps it is because some newspaper editors' complaints about Council adjudications have shown that the Council has the power to sting. All Council adjudications in the last 12 months were published. The requirement that a publication print material critical of it has a much greater impact than past critics of the Council have recognised".

The report also notes steps taken by the Council to publicise its availability as a point for complaints about the press from the public. It conducted a campaign throughout the month of May with the strong support of the newspaper industry itself that provided substantial advertising space free of charge for newly designed, eye-catching advertisements relating to the Council. Members of the Council have undertaken a number of radio interviews and talk-back sessions. Training sessions and case studies seminars with journalism students and cadet journalists were also conducted. The Council's Internet site was updated, more information added and the internal navigation improved.

Also included in the annual report are detailed statistics on the formal complaints received by the Council and circulation figures on all major publishers, provided by the publishers themselves.

Copies of the report are available from the Press Council office and the following extracts from it are posted to this website:

1999-2000 Freedom of the Press Committee Report
Complaints dealt with by means other than adjudication
1999-2000 Complaints Statistics

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Adelaide Visit

The Council's October meetings were held in Adelaide. While there, the Council held a reception to which was invited local figures in government, business, the media, the community and the arts. The reception, held in the Bradman Room of the Adelaide Oval, enabled the Council to meet with community leaders of Adelaide, to introduce them to the Council's workings and to use them as feedback on the Council's success as a self-regulatory body. The reception was held instead of a public forum and was addressed by Peter Sellars, the Director of the Adelaide Festival 2002. Mr Sellars used the occasion to impress on his listeners his vision for the festival which have more of a South Australian flavour and be more inclusive.

The October meetings were the last Press Council functions for Professor Dennis Pearce, whose three-year term ended at the end of October (as reported elsewhere in this issue). He and his wife Diana attended the reception and a dinner where he was officially thanked and farewelled.

While the Council was in Adelaide, it took the opportunity for further promotional and educational activities. Professor Pearce appeared on local ABC radio, talking about the Press Council and responding to talk-back callers and the Council conducted a Case Studies Seminar at the University of South Australia. At the seminar were undergraduate journalism students, post-graduate students and cadet journalists from The Advertiser. The mix of attendees guaranteed a lively discussion on press ethics.

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Case Studies seminars

The Council has held two other Case Studies Seminars this year - both at the University of Technology, Sydney. Both sessions had a mix of students from different levels of the university and the second was also attended by cadet journalists from News Limited and The Sydney Morning Herald. A student's view of the more recent seminar is published elsewhere in this issue.

These seminars which simulate the Council's adjudication process involve the students in a lively debate on the press ethics involved in issues like the publication of confronting photos of crime or tragedy; invasion of privacy; taste in reporting and the role of newspapers in the reporting of news, and commentary on it.

Information on the Case Studies is available on the Council's website and from time to time new case studies, with 'teacher's notes', are posted to the website.

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Mediation

The Council Secretariat continues to settle many matters by mediation and conciliation. In the next issue, we will look at some of the more outstanding matters so settled this year.

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