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November 1999 - Volume 11, No.4
News in brief - November 1999 Privacy
in the Private Sector Privacy in the Public Sector is On-line The federal Attorney-General has issued an Information Paper on proposed legislation to protect the privacy of personal information held by the private sector. As a result the Council has made a submission and been involved in consultations. 1. The submission The Australian Press Council questions the need for quick action on proposed federal legislation for the protection of privacy in the private sector. In a submission sent to the Attorney-General, the Hon Daryl Williams, and the Minister for Communications, Senator Richard Alston, the Chairman of the Council, Professor Dennis Pearce, said that legislation on a topic of such significance to the community should not be introduced into the Parliament before wide consultation and debate of its effect on the public's right of access to information had taken place. Consultation to date seems to have been limited to industry bodies within the private sector. The Council believes that there is a public interest in being informed of the actions of bodies which affect their daily lives and the public's view does not seem to have been considered. The New Zealand experience of similar legislation is that it results in limitations on the disclosure of information relating, notably, to private organisations that carry out functions previously performed by government agencies. The complexity of the New Zealand legislation has also created a climate of confusion in that, rather than release information, persons and organisations decline disclosure just in case privacy principles are breached. Professor Pearce observed that a proposed exemption from the operation of the legislation for the news publishing activities of the media raises issues as to the scope of the expression"news". The exclusion will have to be carefully drafted if the public's protection through the principle of freedom of the press is not to be limited. The Press Council's submission calls on the government to give statutory recognition to the freedom of the press so that privacy issues can be properly balanced against the public's right to access to information. The submission also calls for the inclusion of an express public interest defence to avoid the legislation being used to hide corruption and the commission of offences. The submission was published as a supplement to this issue of the News. 2. Consultations Prior to the drafting of the submission, the Council met with Carolyn Adams from the federal Attorney-General's department to discuss the Information Paper issued by the Attorney. The Council was particularly concerned to learn how the draft legislation would define the news media in arriving at its exemption of the media in its news gathering role from the ambit of the proposed legislation. Subsequent to the submission, the Council's Freedom of the Press Committee, supplemented by a number of representatives of the major publishers, met with federal Privacy Commissioner, Malcolm Crompton, to discuss the way in which he saw his office administering the proposed legislation. On both occasions, the Council stressed the desirability that a draft of the legislation itself be made available so that the Council could make submissions on the wording of the definitions to ensure that the Australian legislation did not cause the concerns with protection of private data legislation that have arisen in New Zealand. See also: [ return to top ] Return to APC News 1999 Index The Australian The Australian newspaper was, for some time, in dispute with the Council over some aspects of its complaints procedure which the paper found unfair. Following extensive negotiations, and some of the changes arising from the Planning Day, the newspaper and the Council have settled their differences amicably and the newspaper is again co-operating fully with the Council. [ return to top ] Return to APC News 1999 Index Publications Four new publications have recently gone to the printers and should by now be available in print form:
[ return to top ] Return to APC News 1999 Index Annual Report 23 The Australian Press Council, in releasing its twenty-third annual report, said that the report demonstrates that the Council continues to perform an effective role as arbiter of complaints about the press. The Chairman of the Council, Professor Dennis Pearce, noted that the 468 complaints received in 1998-99 was the largest number the Council had ever received in one year. He believed that this increase reflected the Council's higher profile, rather than showing any fall in print media standards. "The Council's emphasis on settling complaints by informal negotiation or mediation has led to a greater number being resolved amicably. This is of great benefit both to the persons complaining and the press involved," Professor Pearce said. The report also indicates the Council's efficiency in dealing with complaints. The complaints settled amicably were usually resolved quite quickly. The 58 matters that ultimately had to be adjudicated by the Council took an average of 13 weeks from receipt of the letter of complaint to the issuing of the adjudication. The quickest was completed within five weeks and the slowest took 23 weeks (delayed by a complainant taking time to decide whether to sign the Council's legal waiver). "The relatively short time taken by the Council to deal with complaints compares favourably with other regulatory and self-regulatory agencies and very favourably with the courts," according to Professor Pearce. Professor Pearce also commented that the principle of self-regulation of the media is again under threat. This year saw questions being raised by a committee of the Senate and by the Productivity Commission about the replacement of the Press Council with some form of statutory regulator. The commission's draft report had not referred to the Press Council's position and the Senate committee had not reported prior to the annual report's publication but any proposal for change towards a regulatory regime will be resisted by the Council. This is not out of self-interest but from the conviction that supervision of the press by a government-appointed body is inimical to the preservation of a press free from government oversight and control. The report shows that, during the current year, the Council also came under attack from some newspapers. The Chairman observed that this gave lie to the assertion that the Council was without teeth. Clearly some papers had not liked its bite! All the major metropolitan, regional, country and suburban newspaper and magazine publishers have continued to recognise the Council's jurisdiction. As the report notes, The Australian refused to co-operate with the Council for a short period but it has subsequently returned to full co-operation with the Council in dealing with complaints. The report indicates that the Council continued to take a significant part in world press activities through its membership of the World Association of Press Councils and its interest in the media of the south Pacific region. The Council hosted the first Oceania Regional Conference of the Association in Brisbane in June 1999. The Conference was attended by representatives from a number of overseas countries, particularly from the Asia-Pacific region, as well as editors, journalists, academics and other interested persons from every state in Australia. In its role 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, including defamation, freedom of information, the use of surveillance devices and personal privacy. The Council is concerned that there is an attitude developing that seeks to constrain the free flow of information rather than seeing this as an essential part of democracy in a civilised, developed country. The freedom of the press that forms the foundation of the Council's reason for existing is a right not of the press but of citizens to be part of a free exchange of information and views relating to all aspects of their community. The report is available from the Council office and extracts from it are on the Council's Internet site: 1998-99
Freedom of the Press Committee Report [ return to top ] Return to APC News 1999 Index On the Council As noted elsewhere in this issue, the Press Council has restructured and redefined its public membership and placed term limits on its Public and Journalist members. As a result, a new Panel of Public Members has been established. All current Public Members have been appointed to the Panel and have been joined by two of the former Public Member Alternates, Dee Biggs and Guiliano Ursini. Sir John Mason resigned from the Council of his own volition to ensure that there were not too many alternates for too few positions and Kezia Purick's term expired and she was not appointed to the Panel. As David Cotton's term was due to end in early 2000, the Council decided not to appoint him to the Panel but to advertise for an appointment to the Panel. That means that the current Panel of Public Members, seven of whom will attend each meeting, is:
The Council decided to appoint the tenth member of the panel from applicants resident in south-east Queensland and has placed ads in several daily papers in the region. Applications are invited. Of the industry members, Pamela Bone, the representative of The Age on the Council, has resigned for personal reasons. The newspaper has not nominated a replacement but Paul Austin continues to serve as the paper's alternate member. [ return to top ] Return to APC News 1999 Index Council Planning Day Discussions arising from Council's Planning Day in March 1999 continue and a report on the changes instituted so far can be found in this issue. See also the Planning Days index page. [ return to top ] Return to APC News 1999 Index Launceston Meeting The Press Council is holding its November meetings in Launceston, Tasmania, on 25 and 26 November. The Council usually meets in Sydney, but twice each year it travels to other centres for its meetings. This serves two purposes: it brings the Council closer to people in the other states, and in regional Australia, and it allows the Council to promote the discussion of issues affecting the press, through Public Forums organised to co-incide with the visits. In Launceston, the Forum, to be held at the Earl Arts Centre from 6 pm on Thursday 25 November, will address the topic, "What is News?" Readers and publications often disagree about what is newsworthy in a particular location on a particular day. Questions are raised about such issues as the distinction between what is in the public interest and what is merely of interest to the public. Where should the line be drawn in dealing with questions that relate to the private concerns of individuals? And should that line be different for public figures? To discuss this topic, the Council has invited three eminent persons to address different aspects of the topic. Senator Nick Sherry will be speaking as a politician and public figure when he presents his opinions on what newspapers select as news. Margaret Bartkevicius, a former educator and community arts leader, will speak about the expectations of the average reader of newspapers. She will examine the role of newspapers in relation to the public that the media serve as seen through the eyes of the average reader. She will comment on issues such as equity, young readers, ethics and the responsibilities of newspapers to readers. Rod Scott edits the Examiner and will speak on the processes and issues involved in the selection of news for publication. The forum will be opened by Cr John Lees, the Mayor of Launceston, and chaired by the Council's Chairman, Professor Dennis Pearce. After the speeches, there will be the opportunity for questions to the speakers and some audience discussion of the issues raised. To assist with this aspect of the evening, the Council has invited the editors of the other two Tasmanian dailies, the Mercury and the Advocate, to attend, and participate in the discussion. Admission to the forum is free and all members of the public are invited. It is not necessary to make reservations: just turn up on the night. It is expected that the forum will end before 8 pm. This will be the Council's second visit to Launceston. The earlier one was in 1989. [ return to top ] Return to APC News 1999 Index Public member vacancy Applications are invited from interested persons in south-east Queensland for appointment to the Australian Press Council panel of public members, representing the public. Such members attend about seven Council meetings each year. The Council is concerned with the maintenance of the freedom and responsibility of the press and to that end adjudicates on complaints against the press, and considers matters affecting its freedom. The Constitution of the Council provides that public members shall be appointed from persons otherwise unconnected with the press. Further information may be obtained from this website or from the office of the Council : Suite 303, 149 Castlereagh Street, Sydney 2000. Applications should be addressed to the Executive Secretary, to reach him by 30 November 1999. [ return to top ] Return to APC News 1999 Index Documents with the |
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