Media Release 6 Aug 2015
 |
| MEDIA RELEASE | 6 August 2015 |
| Press Council Chair pledges new broader approach to maintaining press standards |
| The Chair of the Australian Press Council, Professor David Weisbrot, pledged on Thursday to build a new culture at the organisation, one in which maintaining high standards of media practice is seen by industry as a shared enterprise. |
| Weisbrot, who has headed the Press Council since March 2015, told an audience at the Melbourne Press Club that it was insufficient for the Council to focus simply on breaches of its standards and serve as a “watchdog” or “cop on the beat”. |
| “Focusing on a particular breach of Council’s Standards…and then publicising it probably channels too much energy, attention and resources on the aberrant cases - the roughly 40 cases in any particular year that go all the way to final adjudication out of the 500 or so total complaints received,” he said. |
| “And since it’s such a relatively small number and proportion, most journalists, editors and publishers may feel that those unusual cases have nothing to do with them. What we need to do instead is to create a different culture: one that is collegial and intelligent, that continually learns from the whole complaints-handling experience.” |
| “For example, we need to offer more guidance about how to report in areas that are in flux; whether the significant changes are being driven by technological or commercial pressures, or by changing social attitudes. We are clearly hearing from complainants, and from the general community, that we should consider a different approach to reporting on family violence, child sexual assault, LGBTI individuals and issues, disrespectful references to race and religion, and to the labelling and disclosure requirements around the publication of so-called ‘sponsored content’ or ‘native advertising’. If Council can develop useful new standards in these areas, we can drive better practice and forestall future complaints”. |
| Weisbrot said there is considerable enthusiasm from newspaper and online editors and managers for the Press Council to develop and provide education and training programs for working journalists, cadets and others on the Council’s standards and on emerging media law issues, such as metadata retention, secrecy laws, whistle-blower laws, and anti-terrorism laws that may stifle investigative journalism or directly “entangle” journalists. |
| “While the need to identify and sanction poor practice will remain, there are other effective strategies for achieving industry-wide improvement, and reassuring the community that this is the case,” he said. |
| Weisbrot noted that there is an unfortunate tendency to cover Press Council adjudications as if they were results of a sporting match or a “war” with publishers - using terms such as “wins” and “losses”, with publishers variously “rapped over the knuckles”, “censured”, “slammed” or “lashed”. Weisbrot said that this did not help to develop an environment in which the Council and the industry work collegially to maintain high standards, or to advocate for freedom of speech and a vigorous press that can hold government and other powerful interests to account. |
| The Chair also announced the Council’s intention to actively encourage more publications from the thriving “ethnic press” to join the organisation, because at present the membership does not adequately reflect the vibrancy or multicultural nature of Australian society and media. |
| “While we rightfully brag about the Council’s near complete coverage of Australian newspapers, magazines and online news and current affairs sites, there is still a glaring - and I would say unforgivable - gap in the Council’s membership, which I am determined to remedy,” he said. |
| For the full text of the Chair’s Press Club address, click here |
| For further information or to request an interview, contact the Council’s Director of Research and Communications, Michael Rose, on (02) 9261 1930 or by email: michael.rose@presscouncil.org.au |
 |
| 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 |
