Who we are
Council structure
The Australian Press Council currently has 25 members, comprising
- Two Vice-Chairs, acting in the role of Chair, and eight other “public members”, who have no affiliations with a media organisation;
- 10 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.
The independent Chair is chosen by the Council and is usually a judge or university professor. The public members and independent journalist members are appointed by the Council on the nomination of the Chair. The nominees of publishers are chosen by the media organisations which have agreed to support the Council and be subject to its complaints system. All members are expected to act and vote as individuals, not as representatives of any organisation or interest.
For further details, see the Press Council's Constitution.
Council membership
Acting Chairs of the Council
(biography)
- Hon John Doyle AC (Vice-Chair)
- Julie Kinross (Vice-Chair)
Public Members
(biographies)
- Hon John Doyle AC (Vice-Chair)
- Julie Kinross (Vice-Chair)
- John Bedwell
- Jennifer Elliott
- Dr Felicity-ann Lewis
- Dr Suzanne Martin
- Carla McGrath
- Andrew Podger AO
- Robyne Schwarz AM
- Zione Walker-Nthenda
Industry Nominee Members
(biographies)
- Sean Aylmer (Fairfax Media)
- Tony Gillies (Australian Associated Press)
- Chris Graham (Representing smaller publishers)
- Peter Holder (Daily Mail Australia)
- Simon King (nine.com.au)
- Paul Merrill (Bauer Media Group)
- Vacant (Community Newspapers Australia)
- Matthew Ricketson (Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance)
- Glenn Stanaway (News Corp Australia)
- Bob Yeates (Country Press Australia)
- Vacant (formerly APN News and Media)
Independent Journalist Members
(biographies)
- Peter Kerr
- Simon Mann
- Anna Reynolds
- Mike Steketee (on leave of absence until November 2017)
Adjudication Panel Members
The members of the Council's Adjudication Panel are the Chair of the Council, all public and independent journalist members of the Council, three of the industry nominees on the Council and the following people from community and media backgrounds who are not current Council members:
Community background
- Cheryl Attenborough
- John Fleetwood
- Julian Gardner AM
- Melissa Seymour-Dearness
Media background
- David Fagan
- Bob Osburn
- Kirstie Parker
- Russell Robinson
- Susan Skelly
- Barry Wilson
Staff
(biographies)
The Council secretariat is based in Sydney and is headed by an Executive Director appointed by the Council. The current staff members are:
- John Pender (Executive Director)
- Paul Nangle (Director of Complaints)
- Isabella Cosenza (Director of Strategic Issues)
- Michael Rose (Director of Research and Communications)
- Justin Levy (Complaints and Compliance Officer)
- Catherine Nguyen (Complaints and Governance Officer)
- Lynda Burke (Administration Officer)
- Rosemarie Ryan (Acting Office Manager)
- Vacant (Research and Standards Officer)
- Vacant (Information Officer)
Previous Chairs
- Sir Frank Kitto AC, KBE, PC (1976-1982)
- Prof Geoffrey Sawer AO (1982-1984)
- Hon Hal Wootten AC (1984-1986)
- Prof David Flint AM (1987-1997)
- Prof Dennis Pearce AO (1997-2000)
- Prof Ken McKinnon AO (2000-2009)
- Prof Julian Disney AO (2009-2015)
- Prof David Weisbrot AM (2015-2017)
Constituent bodies
The "constituent bodies" of the Council are publishers and other organisations in the media industry which have agreed to provide funding for the Council, to cooperate with the Council's consideration of complaints against them and to publish any resultant adjudications. They also select the industry nominees on the Council
The full list of constituent bodies is shown below:
- Adelphi Printing Pty Ltd
- APN News & Media
- At Large Media
- Australian Associated Press
- Australian Property Journal
- Australian Rural Publishers Association
- Bauer Media Group
- Community Newspapers Australia
- Country Press Australia
- Crinkling News
- Daily Mail Australia
- Echo Publications Pty Ltd
- emanila.com Pty Ltd
- Fairfax Media
- Focal Attractions
- HuffPost Australia
- Independent Australia Pty Ltd
- Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance
- News Corp Australia
- New Daily
- nine.com.au
- Private Media
- Schwartz Media
- The Bushland Shire Telegraph Pty Ltd
- The Koori Mail
- Urban Cinefile
- WorkDay Media
For further details, see Constituent Bodies and their Publications.
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