Adjudication No. 104 (July 1981) [1981] APC 17

ADJUDICATION No. 104 (July 1981)

The Executive Director of the Law Institute of Victoria has complained to the Australian Press Council about an article in The Age newspaper of 31 March 1981, headed "Tribunal Man Raps Solicitors".

The article was contributed by a law reporter and drew attention to certain passages in a report to the Victorian Attorney-General submitted by the Lay Observer appointed under the Legal Profession Practices Act.

The complaint is that the article is "unfair, unbalanced, biased, distorted, dishonest and misleading".

The Press Council has read the whole of the Lay Observer's report and is satisfied that the article published by The Age was a fair statement of an important part of the report and that the complaint is unjustified.

On 4 April 1981 The Age published a letter of some length from the complainant together with a brief reply by the author of the article complained of. In the opinion of the council The Age did ample justice to the complainant and the complaint is dismissed.