News in brief - November 1997

Bathurst Visit
Costs in Criminal Cases Amendment Bill
Mediated complaints
Annual Report 21
Defamation Bill (NSW)
1997 Press Council Fellow
On the Council

Bathurst visit

A visit by the Australian Press Council to Bathurst in September was the last meeting of the Council for its long-time Chair, Professor David Flint. He spoke at the Public Forum held in conjunction with the visit on Monday 22 September. The subject of the forum was "Regional Newspapers, Privacy and the Press Council", and was held in conjunction with the Charles Sturt University. A report of the meeting, which was opened by Prof Cliff Blake the University's Vice Chancellor, and chaired by Judy Taylor, a public member of the Council, is printed in this issue of the News.

The Press Council's meetings are usually held in Sydney but at least twice a year it visits other metropolitan and regional centres. Its visit to Bathurst was its third meeting in regional NSW but its first in the region west of the Great Dividing Range. Earlier regional meetings of the Council were held in Wollongong and Albury.

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Costs in Criminal Cases Amendment Bill 1997 (NSW)

The Australian Press Council has written to the leaders of political parties and to Independents in the NSW Legislative Council to argue strongly against the Costs in Criminal Cases Amendment Bill 1997. This Bill would authorise the taxation of the media for costs of trials aborted as the result of a contemptuous publication or broadcast.

The Council noted that the media is not alone in inadvertently publishing or broadcasting such material. Ministers of the Crown and judges are capable of doing this and there are recent cases where this has occurred. Yet only the media will be liable for the very substantial costs involved. These will be a heavy burden, especially for smaller country and suburban newspapers and broadcasters.

The Council's fomer Chairman, Prof David Flint, said that he "regards this Bill as a direct attack on freedom of the press, which is the freedom of the public to be informed on matters of interest to them. The recent decision to abort a trial in Queanbeyan following remarks from the Minister for Police in launching a paedophilia phone-in demonstrates that the definition of what is a contemptuous action or one that can lead to a trial being aborted is most contentious".

In General Press Release 194 (in March 1995), the Press Council noted some concerns with the present law of contempt. In it, the Council referred to the inadvertent publication of material related to an accused man in a newspaper which led to a trial being aborted and a charge of contempt against the newspaper and the writer. Yet the Court of Appeal in ruling on the contempt itself inadvertently caused a subsequent trial of the same accused person to be aborted. Under the provision of the Costs in Criminal Cases Amendment Bill 1997, the newspaper would be liable for the costs of the first trial but the judges would incur no liability for the costs of the second.

In the recent matter concerning the Minister of Police, it is possible that a newspaper reporting the Minister's comments might be liable for the costs of an aborted trial but the Minister would not be, even if found to have been in contempt.

Prof Flint added: "The Council is concerned that the Bill will have a chilling effect on free speech particularly if it were to result in an increased willingness to abort trials because a media outlet, not the State, would pay for the aborted trial. In the light of such a possibility, broadcasters and publishers will tend to err on the side of caution when deciding what material to run and discussion of matters of public importance, such as the incidence of child sexual molestation in the community, is bound to be curtailed or severely limited, despite the public's right to know the information."

The Council's information is that it is not common for trials to be aborted as a result of media broadcasts or publications. The case noted above is the only recent incident we know of in NSW concerning the press. There have been a number of aborted trials arising from discussions on talk-back radio programs but not so many as to cause a major concern to the community. This Bill addresses a problem that does not merit such a draconian approach and does so in a way that will, inevitably, have negative consequences on public's right to information that would enable it to participate in important community debates.

In GPR 194, the Council also noted that under the present law of contempt guilt is determined by a judge alone, without the benefit of a jury trial, and that no "guilty mind" needs to be demonstrated. Thus a guilty verdict is much more easily obtained on a contempt charge, even when the alleged contempt was inadvertent, as in the cases noted above. The Costs in Criminal Cases Amendment Bill 1997 will exacerbate this concern as charges of contempt, arising from inadvertence, could also lead to substantial secondary monetary penalties, but for one section of society only.

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Mediated Complaints

The Press Council encourages the informal resolution of complaints, including the use of direct mediation between the parties. Among the complaints successfully mediated by the Press Council office in the last few months are the following:

• A bylined article alleged that a well-known poet had a millionaire patron. The complainant wrote a letter for publication and was advised by the paper that it would let him know if he made the short list. The Press Council has said in the past that a paper has a greater obligation to publish a letter if published information is found to be harmfully inaccurate. When the complainant contacted the office it immediately contacted the paper. The complainant's letter was then published.
  
  
• A montage was printed which included a re-published photograph of two partly blind ladies. The ladies in question did not give their permission, and the third party complainant requested that the paper apologise for its action. The two ladies received a written apology from the paper's business editor for any distress occasioned by the montage. The paper also undertook to destroy the original copy of the photograph to prevent further misuse of it.
  
  
• An article about a hepatitis A vaccine was "full of dangerous untruths and misstatements" according to the complainant. The matter came to a Complaints Committee hearing. At the hearing it was suggested that the parties could settle the complaint by the publication of a letter from the complainant. (The paper had previously been reluctant to do so.) Both parties agreed to see if they could settle on a letter - they did, and the letter was published.
  
  
• A similar complaint was received from the same complainant against a different paper. In this case, the paper published the complainant's letter, satisfying the complainant. There was therefore no need for a referral to the Complaints Committee.
  
  
• A community newspaper inaccurately referred to a complainant as "a Liberal Party adviser" - he is in fact a senior state public servant. The inaccuracy was harmful to his personal and professional position. The paper published a follow-up article which gave details of the complaint. It corrected the earlier error and acknowledged in print that it had been wrong.
  
  
• A metropolitan paper republished a Guardian story on the threat of Jewish Orthodox influence in Jerusalem. The complainant believed the story to be inaccurate and anti-Semitic, and wrote a letter to the editor along these lines. The letter was not published. Upon receiving the complaint via the Press Council, the letters editor, who had returned from leave, decided to publish the letter as an informed response on behalf of the Sydney Jewish community.
  
  
• A photograph and caption to a story on pollutants escaping from a waste depot linked it with creating birth defects and health problems. The government agency and two local residents complained to the Press Council and requested an apology. A legal waiver was obtained from the agency. The residents retained their rights and the matter was held in abeyance (for 3 years) until they decided not to pursue legal action. An assessment panel met the complainants and the newspaper, which, two days later, published an agreed correction of the picture caption.

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Annual Report No. 21

The out-going Chairman of the Australian Press Council, Professor David Flint, says that, after twenty-one years of operation, "... the system of [press] self-regulation has worked, and is working."

The Council's 1996-7 annual report, released in October, notes that, for the sixth consecutive year, the number of complaints received has remained consistent. Between 1991-2 and 1995-6, the number of complaints received in each year has been between 400 and 430. In the current year, that number was 399 (down from 413 in the previous year).

The report indicates that an increasing number of the complaints dealt with by the Council are settled amicably between the parties. Of the 399 complaints concluded by the Council in the year covered by the report, 164 (41.1 per cent) were successfully mediated or otherwise settled to the complainant's satisfaction. This is a rise from 39.5 per cent in 1995-6.

Among those adjudications published in the report are those arising from the Brisbane Courier-Mail's accusations about the alleged activities of Australian historian Manning Clark - the Council upheld the complaint about the article and dismissed an appeal from the newspaper over the adjudication - and the Council's finding that the photographs of former senator Bob Woods and his wife in their backyard, published in the Daily Telegraph, Sydney, were an unjustified invasion of their privacy.

The Council's twenty-first annual report details the Council's work for the year ended 30 June 1997. The report also notes that the Council has continued its case studies seminars with journalists, students and members of the public, as well as holding public forums on current media issues. The transcripts of these meetings are issued as a series of Conference Papers. To mark the twentieth anniversary, the Council printed several booklets, including a history of the Council; a complete publication of the data from its survey of complainants; booklets of speeches from its first two Press Council Fellows; and a report from its round-table on the reporting of youth suicide. Like other Council publications, these booklets are available from the Council office.

The Annual Report, like its predecessors, republishes each of the adjudications and press releases made by the Council, in the year under review, as well as reporting on the Council's activities in matters related to freedom of the press issues. It also contains data on the Council's complaints mechanism (including graphs) and publishes statistics, provided by the publishers, on Australia's major print media companies.

Copies of the annual report are available from the Press Council office.

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Defamation Bill 1995 (NSW)

The Council noted the advice of the NSW Attorney-General that he has tabled the exposure draft of the Defamtion Bill to allow for its reconsideration in the light of the High Court's Lange decision. The Bill, which provides for, inter alia, court-ordered Declarations of Falsity, has been the subject of some controversy. The Council has determined to review its own submissions on defamation law reform in the wake of Lange and then to make further submissions to the NSW Attorney.

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1997 Press Council Fellow

Lord Wakeham, the Chairman of the UK Press Complaints Commission (PCC), delivered an address as the 1997 Australian Press Council Fellow in Sydney on 5 November 1997. His topic was "Privacy and the Press". The Address was delivered to the Sydney Institute.

The PCC is the body which, in the UK, deals with public complaints about the ethical behaviour of the print media. The Commission has taken a leading role in the development of tighter standards on media intrusions into privacy, particularly in the light of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.

From 1974 until 1992, Lord Wakeham was a member of the House of Commons, serving, among other roles, as Chief Whip for the Conservative Party and in a number of ministerial positions. From 1992 until his retirement from politics in 1994, Lord Wakeham was Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Lords. In 1994 he retired from government. He now holds a number of company directorships as well as serving as Chairman of both the PCC and the British Horseracing Board. In the latter capacity he visited Australia to attend the Melbourne Cup carnival.

His Press Council Fellow Address is reported in this issue of the News.

Lord Wakeham is the third Press Council Fellow. The first was Prof. John Soloski, a US specialist in defamation law reform, in 1995. In 1996, Prof. Claude-Jean Bertrand, a French expert in media accountability systems, toured Australia as the second Fellow. Booklets containing copies of their speeches while in Australia are available from the Council.

The 5 November Address was Lord Wakeham's only public appearance as Press Council Fellow.

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On the Council

The Council has appointed a new Public Member alternate from Victoria. She is Dee Biggs, 32, the owner of a gallery/shop in Port Melbourne promoting the work of Australian contemporary furniture and textile designers and makers. Ms Biggs grew up in outback WA and has lived and worked in mining and pastoral industry areas. She moved to Melbourne in 1986 where she has continued her education and been employed in business administration. She managed a Fine Arts Gallery for a numbe of years before serving as personal assistant to the artistic director of the Australian Ballet. Her varied background and relative youth were among the qualifications that recommended her to the selection committee. As an alternate member of the Council, Ms Biggs will form part of the panel from which attendance is invited when public members of the Council are unable to attend a meeting.

In recent months there has been a number of the Council Constituent Bodies' alternate members who have left. Some have been replaced. News Limited has appointed Gareth Evans, the Editorial Manager of Queensland Newspapers, to act as Warren Beeby's alternate, following the earlier departure of Geoff Hussey. Following the resignation of Bruce Guthrie from The Age, Paul Austin, the assistant editor (opinion), has been appointed to act as Pamela Bone's alternate representative for that newspaper. Country Press Australia have nominated John Dunnet, manager of the Courier, a small country newspaper in Narrabri, NSW, as David Sommerlad's alternate. He replaces Barrie Chataway who recently retired from the Council. Dale Jennings, who has acted as Lloyd Whish-Wilson's alternate for Regional Dailies Australia, has left the Geelong Advertiser and, hence, the Council. No replacement has yet been nominated. Milton Cockburn, who has been the alternate member for John Fairfax Holdings, is to leave the Council later this month as a result of his appointment as Media Manager of the 2000 Olympics organising committee. His successor has yet to be appointed.

Roy Theodore, one of the panel of editor members of the Council, had a heart attack in October and is recovering in Bundaberg. The Council looks forward to his early return to duty.

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