Earth Invaded!

DEBORAH KIRKMAN looks at how the headlines have been judged in Australian Press Council's adjudications.

Gotcha. Invaded by whom, what, where, when, why and how? You read on ... by solar flares entering the stratosphere sometime in the next three billion years due to global warming. Are you relieved that the end of the world is not nigh. Or do you feel that you have been misled by the headline? Many readers have complained to the Australian Press Council over the years about headlines and pointers and the Council's adjudications provide some guidance on what's acceptable.

A headline is text at the top of a newspaper article, indicating the nature of the article below it. On at least one occasion the Press Council has said that there is no aspect of the layout of newspapers more important than headlines in giving a fair and balanced summary to readers of matters of public interest (Adjudication No. 487).

Headlines are designed to seize the reader's attention. Given the nature of headlines, the Council has said, a certain licence must be given for the style of headline that summarises the story that follows (Adjudication No. 365).

Overall presentation

A headline is just one part of an article. Occasionally, it is accompanied by a photograph, a cartoon, an opinion piece or an editorial.

One such piece, headed Guess where the people who protest like this are holding their next training session ... IN YOUR HOUSE was about a forum on civil disobedience that was being held in the NSW State Parliament. The newspaper also published a photograph that showed protestors and mounted police at an earlier demonstration together with a boxed summary of the "recent history of unrest". The Council found that the combined impact of the three elements distorted the facts reported in the article (Adjudication No. 1190).

Another complaint was about the headline The true cost of bludgers with the overline This family consumed $32,000 - enough to pay sacked disabled works for a year. The article was accompanied by two photographs: a family of eight, who were about to move into a government-owned house, and two developmentally disabled mailroom workers. In upholding the complaint, the Council said that the headline, read in conjunction with the photograph of the family, including six children, was offensive and that the coverage failed to adhere to the principle that news should be presented honestly and fairly but also with "respect for the privacy and sensibility of individuals" (Adjudication No. 1247).

Use of words

According to the Council, newspapers have a broad freedom to choose how they approach issues, including the use of the vernacular in headlines (Adjudication No. 678), although in more recent times, the Council has been more likely to rule against headlines where the terminology reinforces negative stereotypes about groups.

In dismissing a complaint about a 1993 headline in a regional newspaper, Homos haunt toilet, the Council observed that complaints usually focus on a particular meaning or perception, which upsets an individual or group, and that if newspapers were required to restrict themselves to words unlikely to give offence to anyone, English would become strapped in a communications' straightjacket (Adjudication No. 641).

It reinforced this when considering the use of the word "psycho" in a headline referring to a brutal murder. While recognising that some readers would regard such usage as contributing to a damaging stereotype of people with a mental illness, the Council believed that it was not its role "to judge newspapers' language in circumstances where the use of a word remains controversial in the community generally" (Adjudication No. 1047)

Similarly, in dismissing a complaint about the use of the epithet "illegal" to describe marriage ceremonies between gay men, the Press Council stated that it is not concerned to enforce the niceties of English language. (Adjudication No. 271)

On the other hand, in a more recent case, a complaint about a headline using the term "illegal immigrant" was upheld (Adjudication No. 1242), because "illegal" is not an accurate description of the status of asylum seekers. This decision was expanded in Guideline No. 262, which urges caution in the use of such unqualified terms in reports and headlines.

The Council also warns against headlines such as Muslims kill 27 to 'stop oppression' (Adjudication No. 1236). Publications should be wary when using in their headlines terms for religious or ethnic groups that could imply that the group as a whole was responsible for the actions of a minority among that group (Guideline No. 261). Terrorists may be of any religion (or none at all), but Muslims are not automatically terrorists.

Likewise, in criticising the headline Scheming blacks behind fires: farmers, the Council thought that in the context of the case, the phrase "scheming blacks" was not only insensitive but perpetuated the racist notions by stressing negative stereotypes about the Indigenous People (Adjudication No. 1154). Along the same lines, the Council has no problem with the word "Pom" and views it as akin to "Yank" or "Ocker". However, the use of epithets to modify such terms would most likely be a gratuitous and in breach of Principle 7 if they reinforced negative stereotypes. The Council's view on such matters, whether in headlines or in articles, is summarised in Guideline 248.

False or misleading headlines

Ethically, publications are obliged not to mislead readers, especially in headlines. On a number of occasions the Council has ruled that headlines have got it wrong. Some examples:

Superannuation Scandal - How to Retire with $500,000. The headline was misleading and incorrect as it gave the reader an impression that public servants enjoyed a position that was not borne out in the body of the article (Adjudication No. 49).

"FIREBOMBED". Principle 2 indicates a newspaper has an obligation to take all reasonable steps to ensure the truth of its statements. The clear headline assertion of a firebombing was not supported in the article (Adjudication No. 846).

Mayor's Change of Mind. Had quotation marks been used it would have been clear that this was a claim, not a fact (Adjudication No. 1040).

Speed a factor in fatal crash. The Coroner did not include speed as a factor in his findings. In the Council's view, the headline was misleading and would have caused distress to the family (Adjudication No. 1167).

BRING HOME THE TRAITOR. The use of the word "traitor" was not consistent with the newspaper's full report on David Hicks, while he was incarcerated at Guantanamo Bay, and failed to recognise that Mr Hicks had not faced trial and had a presumption of innocence (Adjudication No. 1218).

Lawyers order charities to throw oldies on the scrap heap. The Press Council found no justification for the headline when neither the article nor an accompanying editorial mentioned lawyers (Adjudication No. 1266).

Greens back illegal drugs. In the article a number of seriously inaccurate claims were made about Greens Party policies. In the context of an approaching election, the potential damage was considerable. The newspaper breached the Council's guiding principles of checking the accuracy of what is reported, taking prompt measures to counter the effects of harmfully inaccurate reporting, ensuring that the facts are not distorted, and being fair and balanced in reports on matters of public concern (Adjudication No. 1270).

Cosgrove's AWOL son discharged from army. The headline was unfair to General Peter Cosgrove's son as it gave the impression that he had gone AWOL, when the son had himself requested the discharge (Adjudication No. 1318).

Pointer

A pointer, usually on the front page, directs readers' attention to a specific article inside a publication. The same ethical principles apply to pointers as for headlines.

The Council considered such a pointer, which read Woman's death linked to new health trend, published together with a picture of goji berries. The Council found that the pointer was unambiguous in asserting a link to the as-yet-unknown cause of the death (Adjudication No. 1368).

Redress

The Council's Principle 2 and Principle 8 refer to making amends for, respectively, harmfully inaccurate information and where individuals or groups have been singled out for criticism. Such amends can be by way of a published letter, follow-up article, correction, clarification or apology.

After publishing the misleading headline Hannaford lashes judges over delay, the newspaper offered to publish a letter from an aggrieved judge. The judge declined. The Council noted that a timely letter or article is the best means of correcting any false impressions, and that it was regrettable that the judge did not take up the newspaper's offer (Adjudication No. 678).

Sometimes, the damage cannot be sufficiently rectified. Under the headline SCHOOL STABBING, a newspaper gave its front-page coverage to an incident where one student was accidentally cut by a Stanley knife by another student. The paper subsequently printed three letters challenging the report and offered the principal an article setting the record straight. He declined. The Council commended these steps, but recognised that they could not fully counter the misleading impression that the headline would have created (Adjudication No. 714).

Not happy

The Press Council has also said that headlines must not only be used, legitimately, to entice interest but must strive to be as accurate and balanced as the stories they top (Adjudication No. 487).

The Council was therefore unimpressed with a newspaper's response to the headline Hostages Will Die, that it was not a precis of a story. Further, that, as a tabloid, it was afforded a more limited choice of words for its headlines than a broadsheet and that, while the word "may" would have been more accurate than "will", it would have left an unacceptable amount of white space at the end of the line. In particular the Council made clear that it did not accept the view that an untrue headline is ever justified by considerations of space (Adjudication No. 85).

Headlines can be sophisticated, funny, clever, outrageous, attention-seeking, over-the-top, pun-filled, a screamer or just plain boring. A favourite is Headless body in topless bar. In response to criticism of the headline, the editor allegedly asked, "What should we have said: Decapitated cerebellum in tavern of ill repute?"

Long live headlines - just as long as they are fair and accurate.

Deb Kirkman

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