Adjudication No. 67 (September 1979) [1979] APC 20

ADJUDICATION No. 67 (September 1979)

The Australian Press Council has censured The Australian newspaper following a complaint made by the Secretary of the Australian National Alliance. The complaint concerned an article entitled "Australia's Latest Ultra-Right Party", published by The Australian on June 5, 1979.

The article in question was printed as a box within a much longer article with the bold headline "Rise of the Neo-Nazis" This article was a report on the growth of Neo-Nazi parties in some Western European countries. The arrangement was such that readers would probably conclude that the bolder headline referred also to the National Alliance story. The opening paragraphs would confirm the impression that the National Alliance was being presented as one of the Neo-Nazi organisations; passages in the article itself spoke of similarities between the National Alliance and German Nazism.

The article was based on an interview with the Secretary of the Alliance but it also contained material about the opinions of the Alliance. The Secretary complained that some remarks attributed to him had not in fact been made; more generally, that his views (and those of his organisation) on several issues were! grossly misrepresented; and that the misrepresentations suggest an identity' between Alliance doctrines and Nazi doctrine which the Alliance repudiated.

The Press Council discussed the article and complaint at considerable length with the Secretary of the Alliance, and with representatives of The Australian, and the writer of the article. The Council concluded that the intention of the article and of its mode of presentation was certainly to depict the Alliance as a Neo-Nazi organisation. The Council, of course, does not dispute a newspaper's right to advocate and argue that opinion if it believes it to be true, provided it is done without misrepresentation or distortion.

However, the Council concluded that the views of the Secretary about several important issues had been grossly misrepresented. The issues include anti-semitism, and policies in relation to Aborigines and the Vietnamese "boat-people".

The Council was also of the opinion that the report provided insufficient evidence to substantiate the charge, whether justified or not, that National Alliance views are identical with specifically Nazi doctrines.

The Council concluded therefore that the article was open to legitimate complaint. It did not exhibit the degree of scrupulousness and care in ensuring the accuracy and fairness of its account of National Alliance opinions as was called for by the seriousness of its characterisation of the Alliance.

The complaint by the Secretary of the National Alliance is upheld and The Australian is censured.