APC Update - Issue 41
APC UPDATE
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| Quarterly Council Meeting |
| Recent Articles about the Council |
| The following resolution was passed by the Council at its quarterly meeting in Sydney on 28 August: |
| “The Press Council reaffirms its confidence in the Chair and rejects the recent misrepresentations made by The Australian about the Chair and the Council. It also deplores the breach by The Australian of obligations of confidentiality during the Council’s complaint processes. The Council will continue to work with News Corp to resolve any legitimate concerns.” |
| The resolution was passed by 19 votes to nil, with one abstention. |
| Misrepresentations |
A substantial number of recent misrepresentations by The Australian were identified at the meeting. They included:
|
| Breaches of confidentiality |
| A substantial number of breaches of confidentiality by The Australian were also identified at the meeting. They involved publication of details of the handling of complaints while they are still under consideration by the Council. |
| The breaches included disclosure of the wording of particular complaints and the publication’s responses to them; statements and questions by complainants, publications and Adjudication Panel members in the course of meetings with the Panel; and other communications between the Council and the publication in question. Some of the breaches related to complaints about other News Corp publications and appear to have been made with their consent. |
| In some instances the disclosure was misleading and in some it unfairly disadvantaged the complainant. The Council’s processes have also been severely disrupted. The Chair and Executive Director were asked to take urgent action aimed at restoring the publications’ compliance with the confidentiality obligations. |
| Editing of responses |
| Great concern was also expressed at the meeting about the editing or exclusion of material sent to The Australian which was in support of the Council. Despite the great number and length of articles and editorials which criticised the Council (totalling more than 15,000 words), the newspaper edited out a number of key words from concise letters by the Chair and Vice-Chairs as well as declining to publish the letter from one of the two former Chairs who wrote in support of the Council and an article by a journalist member of the Council. |
| Other matters at the Council meeting |
| The Council was informed that the proportion of complaints open for more than three months has halved over the past year, and almost 30 per cent of complaints are now finalised within four weeks or less. |
| The new Executive Director, John Pender, is overseeing a number of changes to further increase the proportion of complaints which are finalised within twenty days, and of those which are substantially dealt with in a day or two. The changes also aim to improve early communication with publications about the nature of the response being sought to particular complaints. He will make a progress report to the next meeting and also introduce changes to accelerate completion of matters after they have been considered by the Adjudication Panel. |
| The Council was provided with a number of examples of why, like its counterparts in the UK and New Zealand, it should continue to consider complaints by people who are not identified in or directly impacted by the material in question. A substantial proportion of complaints to the Council are these so-called “third party” complaints, but recent statistical analysis confirms they are much less likely than other complaints to go past the initial stage of consideration, especially to the stage of adjudication (eg, only seven in the first half of 2014). An audit of the handling of these complaints is being conducted by industry and public members of Council. |
| Round Table consultations will be held with senior editors from the Council’s publisher members in October and with leading members of the community in November. The meetings are expected to focus mainly on providing further information about the operation of the complaints-handling system, including adjudications, and inviting suggestions for improvement. They will also discuss ways of effectively disseminating the recently-revised General Principles and dispelling misconceptions about them. |
| The Executive Director, with the assistance of two Council members (Campbell Reid and Julie Kinross), will be preparing a paper for the next Council meeting on possible new initiatives about freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Work is continuing on the Council’s important project on application of the General Principles to different forms of digital publishing. Two successful Round Tables have been held and further consultations will occur when drafting commences. |
| The Council expressed its appreciation to Prue Innes and Prof Ron Grunstein, whose terms as Council members have expired. It appointed Felicity Lewis, current President of the Australian Local Government Association, as a public member for three years from 28 August 2014. It also appointed Sue Carter (former Head of News and Editorial of Yahoo!7) and David Fagan (former Editor in Chief of the Courier Mail) as industry members of the Adjudication Panel for two years from 1 September 2014. |
| Australian Press Council Address: Level 6, 309 Kent St, Sydney, 2000 Phone: (02) 9261 1930 or 1800 025 712 Fax: (02) 9267 6826 Email: info@presscouncil.org.au Web: http://www.presscouncil.org.au |
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