Adjudication No. 117 (November 1981) [1981] APC 30

ADJUDICATION No. 117 (November 1981)

The Port Stephens Shire Council through its Shire Clerk has complained to the Australian Press Council of the Newcastle Herald's reports on the council in its issues of 21 March, 20 April and 2 May 1981.

The first was an article which the complainant said implied that a councillor had acted improperly in relation to land he had purchased in the shire. The Press Council cannot undertake to investigate such a matter, which is properly the subject of inquiries of other authorities.

The second was an article which said, inter alia, that neither the councillor referred to nor any other councillor had sought to challenge the accuracy of the facts alleged in the first article. There is a dispute as to whether any such challenge was in fact made. This is a question of word against word, and the Press Council is in no position to determine the truth of the matter.

The third article was headed "Secret $4m Port village plans" The editor has admitted that the use of the word "secret" in the headline was not entirely appropriate. However, the Press Council considers it was, at worst, ambiguous. While the general plan had been discussed openly, the detailed plans published in the article had apparently been confidential to the shire council and therefore secret.

On the evidence presented, the complaint is dismissed. If the freedom of the Press is to be meaningful to the community, investigative journalism which airs matters related to public bodies is to be encouraged.

The council, however, is concerned that expressions of concern from people affected by the articles were not published. Newspapers should be especially careful not to suppress criticism of themselves.