About the Council
The Australian Press Council was established in 1976 and is responsible for promoting good standards of media practice, community access to information of public interest, and freedom of expression through the media. The Council is the principal body with responsibility for responding to complaints about Australian newspapers, magazines and associated digital outlets. An information brochure about the Council can be downloaded here.
Role
The Council’s three main areas of work involve
- developing standards that constitute good media practice and are applied by the Council when considering complaints;
- responding to complaints from the public about material in Australian newspapers, magazines and associated digital outlets;
- issuing statements on policy matters within its areas of interest, including through submissions to parliamentary committees, commissions and other public bodies.
For further details, see What we do.
Membership
The Council has 24 members, comprising
- the independent Chair and 10 “public members”, who have no affiliations with a media organisation;
- nine nominees of media organisations, including all the major publishers of newspapers and magazines as well as the principal union for employees in the media industry;
- four independent journalist members, who are not employed by a media organisation.
For further details, see Who we are.
Resources
The Council's office is based in Sydney. Its core funding is provided by the “constituent bodies”, which comprise News Limited, Fairfax Media, all other major newspaper and magazine publishers in Australia, and the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance which represents journalists and other workers in the media industry (for a list, see Constituent Bodies and their Publications). The Myer Foundation has provided additional project funding, as have several of the contributors to core funding.
History
The Council was founded in July 1976 by the Australian Newspapers Council, the Regional Dailies of Australia Ltd, the Australian Provincial Press Association (regional non-dailies), and the Australian Journalists Association. The first Chair was Sir Frank Kitto, a retired Justice of the High Court of Australia. The following booklet provides a more detailed look at various aspects of the Council’s history:
Deborah Kirkman: Whither the Australian Press Council?
