|
|
Home
| Databases
| WorldLII
| Search
| Feedback
Australian Press Council Update |
APC UPDATE | 6 June 2014
The Press Council has concluded that an article in the print version of The Age on 20 November 2013 breached its Standards of Practice. The article was headed "Scam developer took own life".
The article reported the death of Jason van der Slot, whose company had been developing an apartment project. It was published on the day after his funeral. A longer version of the article, with a different heading, had been published on the previous day. The cause of death had not been officially established, and the online version included the statement “Fairfax Media understands Mr Van Der Slot recently took his own life...”, while the print version said he was “believed to have taken his own life”.
The publication said it was unaware of the date of the funeral but acknowledged this should have been checked before publication and that if it had done so the articles would have been withheld for a day or two.
The Council considered that reporting the cause of death in this case, where adequately established, was in the public interest. However, especially where suspected suicide is involved, the cause should not be stated with certainty unless it has been conclusively confirmed with official, medical or other appropriate sources. The text complied with this approach but the print headline unequivocally stated the cause was suicide. The Council concluded that this unequivocal and prominent headline, together with the fact the funeral had taken place on the preceding day, meant The Age did not take sufficient care to avoid unnecessary hurt to Mr van der Slot's family. Read the full adjudication.
The Press Council has considered there was no breach of the Council’s standards in an article on the news.com.au website on 12 October 2013. An entry on the homepage, which linked to the full article, was headed "Teen hangs himself after streaking" and read, “A teenager has committed suicide after he faced being put on a sex offenders list for streaking at a high school gridiron game”.
The article reported that a 15 year-old boy from Alabama in the United States ran naked across the field of a gridiron game. The school then threatened him with expulsion and he was arrested, but not charged, over the incident. A week later he hanged himself. The article mentioned that in Alabama the offence of indecent exposure can lead to a listing on the state’s sex offenders register.
The Council emphasised that in accordance with its Specific Standard on reporting suicide, great caution is needed in this area. It considered that in this particular case reporting of the details of the streaking and his death were sufficiently in the public interest to be disclosed, especially because fear of being put on the sex offenders list might have contributed to the suicide. Read the full adjudication.
The Press Council has concluded that an article on pages 1 and 3 of The Chronicle on 3 October 2013 breached its Standards of Practice. It concerned possible noise levels at the Wellcamp Airport, which is being built and financed by Wagners group of companies.
The heading of the article said “Jet noise no louder than dishwasher”, and the article stated “Initial noise level projections carried out by Wagners showed residents in Westbrook would typically experience readings of less than 55 decibels as 717 jets took off from the airport”. The article included several quotes from the Managing Director, Dennis Wagner, but none from other sources.
The publication acknowledged it could perhaps have sought comment from a defence or noise expert, but said there had been very few letters opposing the airport and it had published everything submitted on the subject. It said Wagners itself had conducted a survey of affected residents which showed overwhelming support for the airport.
The Press Council decided the noise claims may or may not be accurate but The Chronicle did not take reasonable steps to ensure their accuracy. The Chronicle did not ask to see the study by Wagners on noise level projections, and it did not seek the opinion of any specialists on the subject. In addition, while the Council’s Principles do not require complete, or almost complete, fairness or balance, the comments by Dennis Wagner were so prominent and so overwhelmingly positive, some attempt should have been made to include alternative views. Read the full adjudication.
The Press Council has partly upheld a complaint by Cassandra Rowe about an article in The Advertiser on 24 August 2013 reporting on her case for compensation and reinstatement as the Senior Primate Keeper at Monarto Zoo. At an interim hearing, the Federal Circuit Court refused Ms Rowe’s request for reinstatement pending the full hearing of her claim.
The Council has concluded that the combined impact of the headline, the first sentence of the article and the photograph caption inaccurately implied that her claim to reinstatement had been finally rejected by the court rather than deferred for consideration at the full hearing. This was exacerbated in the print version of the article by not mentioning her statement made outside court that, after the interim hearing, she remained confident in the success of her claim.
The Council also upheld Ms Rowe’s complaint concerning her pregnancy being described as “high risk” without referring to the fact she strongly disputed that claim. However, it did not uphold her complaint about a breach of privacy for mentioning other aspects of her health as they were referred to in the judgement and the Council considered it was reasonable for them to be reported. Read the full adjudication.
The Press Council has considered a complaint from the Australian Christian Lobby about an article, "Smoking healthier than gay marriage", on the publications' websites on 5 September 2012.
ACL complained the headline and first sentence were not accurate and fair representations of comments made by its then Managing Director, Jim Wallace, at a public debate. It also said the inverted commas around the headline incorrectly implied Mr Wallace had said the exact words in the headline.
ACL’s concerns about the headline were seen by the Council as understandable. It noted there is confusion within the media about whether words in single inverted commas in headlines can be paraphrases or must be precise quotes. The Council indicated it intends to develop a Specific Standard on this issue to assist publications and readers.
The Council considered the headline and the first sentence of the article were reasonably accurate paraphrases of what Mr Wallace said, and the precise quotes were provided later in the article. On balance, these factors sufficiently compensated for the fact the headline might be incorrectly interpreted by some readers as a direct quotation. Accordingly, the complaint was not upheld. Read the full adjudication.
Derek Wilding's term as Executive Director was completed on 6 June. He joined the Council as Director of Standards, but then agreed to become Executive Director when the position became vacant at short notice. His commitment, meticulousness and diplomacy have made a major contribution to the Council and he leaves with its thanks and very best wishes. John Pender has been appointed Executive Director to replace Derek from 9 June. John was formerly Senior Legal Counsel and Company Secretary at the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
John Bedwell has been appointed a public member of the Council from 1 July. John has 16 years experience as a High School Principal in NSW, as well as a wide range of involvements in community organisations and activities.
Three people have been appointed as industry members of the Adjudication Panel for two years from 1 July. They are Russell Robinson, a former reporter and news manager for a number of Australian and overseas newspapers and now a freelance journalist; Amanda Wilson, a former journalist and Editor of the Sydney Morning Herald and now Media and Communications Strategy Consultant; and Barry Wilson, a founding editor of the Merimbula News Weekly and the Merimbula Tourist Fortnightly and now Managing Director of a media consulting business.
AustLII:
Copyright Policy
|
Disclaimers
|
Privacy Policy
|
Feedback
URL: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/AUPressClUpdate/2014/6.html