News in brief - November 2003

Prize
New Premises
On the Council
Policy Officer
Submission
Case studies
Editors' forums
Mediations

APC Prize 2003 and 2004

The results for 2003 and the Topic and Conditions of Entry for 2004 are published elsewhere in this issue of the News, together with some details on the winners, some comments from the judges and a copy of the winning essay.

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New premises

The Council moved from its former offices to new premises on York Street. The new offices, while of roughly the same size, are better organised for the Council's use. The Council was able to retain its phone, fax, free call and email addresses. So the only change is the postal address:

Suite 10.02, 117 York Street, Sydney NSW 2000.

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On the Council

West Australian Newspapers have nominated Karen Brown as its new representative, to replace Brian Rogers who resigned from the Council earlier this year. Karen Brown is Deputy Editor at The West Australian. She joined the paper as a cadet in 1990 after spending three years teaching English Literature at Perth secondary schools. After completing her cadetship, Karen covered the Royal Commission into WA Inc, was The West Australian's north-west correspondent and spent several years reporting on Aboriginal Affairs before moving to the Features Department. She edited the Education lift-out and The West Australian's Big Weekend lift-out. She returned to the newsroom as Deputy Chief of Staff in 1999 and was appointed Chief of Staff in March 2001. She commenced her role as Deputy Editor in April 2003 and was appointed The West Australian's alternate member to the Council in May 2003. Her alternate will be Peter Jeanes.

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Policy Officer

The Council has created a new position, a permanent part-time Policy Officer, Inez Ryan. Inez has an Honours BA, majoring in Political Science and a Bachelor of Laws, both at Macquarie University. Subsequently she has taken an Advanced Diploma of Art (Fine Arts) from the National Arts School. In a varied career, Inez has served as a Policy Officer within the NSW Attorney-General's Department, been a Research Associate to the NSW Industrial Court, acted as a Legal Editor for a major publisher, and an analyst for the NSW Police. Inez' major role will be to assist the Council to develop and strengthen its advocacy role in promoting the freedom of speech, by researching political, legislative, commercial or other developments that may restrict the print media's access to information, and put at risk the community's right to know about matters of importance and public interest. She will use this research to develop policy options for the Council, working closely with the Council's Chairman and the Policy Development Committee.

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Submission

The Australian Press Council has made a submission to the federal Department of Health and Ageing on its Review of the Tobacco Advertising Prohibition Act 1992. The Council's principal concern is with the Review's third particular term of reference (the extent and impact of media reporting and portrayal of smoking in the media) and views with dismay the Review's attempts to widen the definition of 'advertising' to encompass material that it neither advertising nor promotional. The Department's issues paper fails to recognise that there is a distinction between advertising and editorial content. It seeks to intrude into the reporting of, and commentary on, matters of public interest and concern, while purportedly dealing with advertising.

The Council said, "The Act as it stands concerns advertising, and not the editorial content of the press. In all the print media, the two functions are clearly separated. The Press Council has issued statements about the confusion between them, condemning advertising disguised as editorial. Most print media respect the distinction between advertising and editorial content but the Review appears to conflate the two, seeking to intrude into the reporting and commentary role of the press. The Council would regard any such attempts at expanding the Act's remit as an unnecessary and dangerous restriction on the traditional freedom of the Australian press to publish matters of public interest and concern, for the information of their readers."

The Council also noted

• the implications for free speech implicit in the Act, and likely to arise from any changes to the current regime which may adversely impact on the media's ability to report and comment on issues
   
• the absence from the Issues Paper of any data on the effectiveness of advertising bans and lack of empirical evidence for the impact of advertising bans in Australia
   
• an apparent imbalance in the Advisory Panel working with the Department, which has on it no person with expertise in the print media and appears to have a preponderance of those already committed to one position on smoking, through their activities and affiliations
   
• an assumption in the Issues Paper that the only possible outcome is an expansion of the Act's remit and the removal of existing defences

The Press Council submitted that

1. No recommendation for change be made which would have the effect of widening the Act's remit from advertising into areas of editorial content;
    
2. An Advisory Panel more representative of the wider community, including representatives of the print and broadcast media, be appointed; and
    
3. Given that the government seems willing to ban advertising but not smoking, and there are some implications for free speech in the current regime, and additional implications in any further restrictions on tobacco promotion, any review needs to be detailed, well-argued and replete with examples. The benefits, if any, of the current regime need to be demonstrated, not assumed. The benefits of a further tightening of the current regime, and the elimination of extant defences, need also to be more strongly demonstrated.

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Case Studies

The Council has concluded its 2003 Case Studies Seminar series. This year there were 15 universities visited (in every state and in the ACT) and a total of 18 seminars conducted. Additionally, there were seminars conducted with journalists in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. In 2003, the seminars dealt with complaints about confronting colour images, privacy matters, opinion columns that single out a groups for criticism and balance in reporting, especially in the use of photographs. The Council is reviewing the Case Studies series and will determine at its December meeting whether they will be conducted again in 2004. Copies of some of the case studies are posted to the Council's website:

http://www.presscouncil.org.au/pcsite/studies.html

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Editors' forums

The Council's Chairman has met with editors in Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth, with a meeting in Sydney scheduled for early December. These consultations allow the Chairman, Professor Ken McKinnon, to report on the work being done by the Council, particularly in the free speech area, and for editors to discuss with Professor McKinnon the main issues at the local level and any concerns they had with the Council and its processes.

In addition to the Council's alerting the editors to issues it is tackling in the free speech area, particularly the development of a best practice guide on Freedom of Information requests, and research into threats of suppression by courts (and by legislation), the 2003 forums included discussion of a number of issues proposed by members of the Council, including the influence of media managers and spin doctors. One issue that has emerged from these discussions which the Council is likely to take up is the question of the unacknowledged use of newspaper material in commercial radio news bulletins.

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Mediated 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 mediation, by agreement with the parties. Below are some examples of the matters recently settled in these ways.

• A metropolitan newspaper published a photograph of a teenage girl, together with an alleged murderer. The mother of the girl complained that the photograph invaded her daughter's privacy. After contact from the Press Council, the complainant and the paper met in an attempt to satisfy the complaint. They agreed on a correction and clarification, which was duly published.
   
• A father complained about a statement in a broadsheet editorial which contained inaccurate information about his son. After Press Council involvement, a correction was published.
   
• The real estate section of a metropolitan newspaper incorrectly quoted the sale price of the complainant's property. The paper advised that the incorrect listing came from a website, which used a government-supplied database. The paper, however, published a correction of the inaccurate sale price.
   
• A country newspaper published a photograph from which the complainant's image had been digitally removed. The complainant believed he should have been included in the photograph as he was representing one of the three partners in a community project. The paper noted that the complainant's image had been included in a photograph published in its sister publication. However, it published an apology to the complainant for any hurt or embarrassment he may have felt by the removal of his image from the latter photograph.
   
• A magazine published an article about the property industry, part of which made claims about the complainant and his business. He complained that the article was unbalanced. The magazine published a clarification acknowledging that it should have sought a response from the complainant prior to publication of the original article.
   
• A country newspaper published an article about municipal elections which the complainant believed contained a number of inaccuracies. Press Council mediation led to the publication of a statement which adequately addressed the complainant's concerns.
   
• A regional daily published a court report on the committal hearing of a man accused of culpable driving leading to the death of the complainant's son. The complainant believed the report invaded his family's privacy. A mediation was conducted between the parties, convened by a Public Member of the Press Council. The editor gave an undertaking that subsequent reporting of the court proceedings will refer to the complainant's deceased son as 'of (the region)' rather than by reference to the specific suburb.
   
• Another regional daily published a gossip item which contained two inaccuracies: it incorrectly named a previous wife, and not the complainant, as the mother of the girl who was the subject of the item; and it incorrectly spelt the girl's surname. The paper admitted its mistakes, and immediately published a correction and apology. The complainant was happy with the outcome.
   
• A Sunday metropolitan newspaper published an article on circumcision. The complainant, an academic, believed that the article was one-sided. With the Council's assistance came an agreement that a follow-up article, providing balance, be published.
   
• A regional daily published an article on the debate over the Australian Flag. The complainant believed the article was unbalanced, and biased towards changing the flag. The paper offered to publish an op-ed piece by the complainant. The complainant took up the offer.

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