Adjudication No. 107 (July 1981) [1981] APC 20

ADJUDICATION No. 107 (July 1981)

Mr Rupert Horwood has complained to the Australian Press Council of an article published in the Sun-Herald of 31 August 1980 headed "Brainwashing 'War' on Cults" and sub-headed "Religious Cults accused of brainwashing their followers have levelled the same accusation against anti-cult groups".

The article said that accusations of kidnapping and brainwashing on both sides mark what has become a vicious battle for control over the minds of cult members in Australia.

The article identified the so-called Unification Church (known as the Moonies) as one of the cults and said that that body had accused the Melbourne Association Exposing Pseudo-Religious Cults of using "deprogrammers" on their converts. It said that the Moonies, to support their allegations of anti-cultist violence, circulated a manual they claim was written by deprogrammers and was dedicated to one Ted Patrick, described as the leader of the American deprogramming movement.

Patrick's method was said to outline the crucial aspect of deprogramming as the physical removal, usually involuntary, of the subject from the stranglehold of the cult, the manual stating that technically this could be described as kidnapping.

The article then stated that the basic rules of deprogramming as defined by Patrick are food termination, sleep withdrawal, shame induced by nudity, verbal stress and physical correction. It went on to quote the treasurer of the Association Exposing Pseudo-Religious Cults as saying that he supported the work of Ted Patrick and other deprogrammers, and as adding that a child to be deprogrammed must be moved away from the environment "usually by force".

So far the article made out its case of a war of accusations by cults and certain anti-cult groups, but it went on to refer to Mr Horwood as having formed the Association Exposing Pseudo-Religious Cults five years earlier and as having left that body to continue his fight against the cults independently and dissociating himself from deprogramming practices overseas. It quoted Mr Horwood as saying "We can get people back from the cults without that silly nonsense. We use simple persuasion".

Mr Horwood complains that the article misrepresented the practices of Patrick and asserts that the manual was in fact the production of one of the cults. He also complains that the article by implication wrongly includes another anti-cult body of which he is the president and co-ordinator among the bodies engaged with the cults in a vicious battle over the minds of cult members. Generally he complains that the Sun-Herald published in the article inaccurate matter and that it failed to provide a prompt and appropriate opportunity for a suitable reply.

Mr Horwood sent a letter to the editor of the Sun-Herald for publication (but hardly in a form suitable for publication) making a number of statements in contradiction of the article complained of, and the feature editor replied promising that Mr Horwood's feeling that his point of view had not been fully expressed would be remedied next time the paper was dealing with the subject of cults or deprogramming.

Mr Horwood then demanded that the paper undertake a thoroughly researched article or articles on "programming", "deprogramming" and the anti-social activities of the cults. This produced no reply.

The Press Council is of opinion that the article complained of sufficiently indicated that Mr Horwood was opposed to the methods of the deprogrammers, and the complaint cannot be upheld so far as it alleges harm to the complainant and the body of which he is the president.

On the article generally the council notes that the paper did not, as suggested by Mr Horwood, publish only the Moonies' allegations; it published the admissions of the treasurer of the Association Exposing Pseudo-Religious Cults. A more fully researched article would have given a clearer account of the differences between the methods of the cults and other deprogrammers on the one hand and the body of which Mr Horwood is the president on the other; but its omission to do so is understandable in view of Mr Horwood's refusal, as quoted in the article, to spell out his association's methods "because the cults could then find a way to work against us" .

The council is of opinion that the Sun-Herald, having opened up the subject of the conflict between the cults and some of the anti-cult bodies, might well have made it clearer whether Mr Horwood's association is one against which accusations of objectionable deprogramming methods are or can be fairly levelled. The council however is of the opinion that the paper is not at fault either for having published the article complained of or for not publishing Mr Horwood's letter or such a further article as Mr Horwood desires.