Adjudication No. 62 (August 1979) [1979] APC 15

ADJUDICATION No. 62 (August 1979)

The Australian Press Council has criticised The Sunday Times of Perth for two articles published in April, 1979, alleging that, according to industry leaders, 80-95 per cent of homes built in Western Australia in the last ten years could be structurally unsound.

One article was headed "Many Homes Are 'Unsound"'. The gravity of these allegations was not justified by any substantial evidence in the body of the articles.

Complaints against the articles were made to the Press Council by the Builders' Registration Board of Western Australia and the Housing Industry Association, Western Australia Division, both of which contended that much of the material in the articles was based upon misunderstanding of technical considerations and showed misapprehensions of the actual situation.

The Press Council was satisfied that the articles were unduly sensational. Attempts made by the complainants to have matter published in answer to the articles failed.

The Press Council was of the opinion that the newspaper was open to serious criticism for unnecessarily exciting public anxiety about the stability of homes in Western Australia. The complaint was upheld.