Release of revised Statement of General Principles (APC Update No 33) [2014] AUPressClUpdate 9; (2014) Australian Press Council Update 33

• Release of revised Statement of General Principles
• Summary of latest adjudications
• Geoff Lake/The Daily Telegraph
• Geoff Lake/Herald Sun
• Some remedies without adjudication
• Case 1
• Case 2

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APC UPDATE | 18 July 2014

Release of revised Statement of General Principles

The Australian Press Council has revised its Statement of General Principles which sets out the basic standards of practice applied by the Council when handling complaints to it and making adjudications in relation to them. They were adopted unanimously by the Council and will apply to all material published on or after 1 August 2014.

The revised Principles do not seek to change substantially the general approach which has been taken previously by the Council. The main purposes are to ensure that the Principles accurately reflect that approach, are as clear as possible and are succinct.

The Principles focus on four key sets of values:

• accuracy and clarity;

• fairness and balance;

• privacy and avoidance of harm;

• integrity and transparency.

Click here for a printable copy of the General Principles

Listen to an interview with Council Chair Julian Disney

Summary of latest adjudications

Geoff Lake/The Daily Telegraph

The Press Council has partially upheld complaints from Geoff Lake about three articles in The Daily Telegraph in August 2013. At the time, Mr Lake was the ALP candidate for Hotham in the 2013 federal election.

Two of the articles focussed mainly on an incident in 2002 involving Mr Lake and a fellow Monash councillor. The third article reported the ALP’s dis-endorsement of him as a candidate and also referred to the incident in 2002. The articles also referred to allegations that Mr Lake had stalked another councillor, improperly used entitlements to print election material, and resigned as a candidate when the printing allegations were raised with him by the ALP.

The Council upheld Mr Lake’s complaints that the allegations of stalking unfairly failed to mention their rejection by a magistrate, and that the claim he resigned because of the printing allegations was incorrect and unfairly implied he had acknowledged fault. It upheld his complaint about the publication’s failure to give him an opportunity to respond to a particular aspect of the incident in 2002. However, it did not consider that other aspects of the coverage of that incident were inaccurate and unfair. Read the full adjudication

Geoff Lake/Herald Sun

The Press Council has partially upheld complaints from Geoff Lake about two articles in the Herald Sun in August 2013. At the time, Mr Lake was the ALP candidate for Hotham in the 2013 federal election.

The first article focused mainly on an incident in 2002 involving Mr Lake and a fellow Monash councillor. The second article reported the ALP’s dis-endorsement of him as a candidate and also referred to the incident in 2002. The articles also referred to allegations Mr Lake had stalked another councillor, improperly used entitlements to print election material, and resigned as a candidate when the printing allegations were raised with him by the ALP.

The Council upheld Mr Lake’s complaints that the allegations of stalking unfairly failed to mention their rejection by a magistrate, and that the claim he resigned because of the printing allegations was incorrect and unfairly implied he had acknowledged fault. However, it did not uphold his complaint that the coverage of the incident in 2002 was unfair. Read the full adjudication

Some remedies without adjudication

Recent examples of the Council helping complainants obtain a remedy without adjudication.

Case 1

A complaint by the supervisor of a supported accommodation facility that a front page article in a regional newspaper inaccurately and unfairly portrayed staff as negligent in delaying to inform the family of a critically ill resident about his condition. The complainant said staff members had insisted that paramedics admit the man to hospital, informed his brother, and called the brother again when the patient’s condition became critical.

There was some disagreement as to the degree of diligence involved in the research and writing of the news report, but following discussions with Press Council staff the publication issued a correction and published a positive story about the complainant’s organisation.

Case 2

A complaint that a letter published in a regional daily newspaper made false and derogatory comments about the history and adherents of a certain religious faith, and that the publication failed to publish or respond to the complainant’s subsequent letter to the editor, which sought to correct the earlier comments and educate readers about the faith.

After Council staff informed the publication of the complainant’s concerns, the publication said it had not received the letter but agreed to publish prominently another one from the complainant.