Adjudication No. 118 (November 1981) [1981] APC 31

ADJUDICATION No. 118 (November 1981)

Senator Ruth Coleman (Western Australia) has complained to the Australian Press Council that the Perth "West Australian" breached the privacy of a woman by publishing a photograph of her, naked, on its front page on August 26 of this year.

The woman, whose identity is unknown, was among victims of a Sydney fire whom the photograph showed being helped down a ladder by a fireman.

Another federal parliamentarian, Mr Ross McLean (Perth), has expressed his concern to the council about the photograph and passed on a letter from a constituent complaining to him that it invaded the woman's privacy and was sexist.

The newspaper's editor-in-chief, Mr Dan O'Sullivan, has replied that the newspaper published the photograph because it conveyed strongly the drama of a fire in which many people had died and which was consequently of great public interest. The newspaper had believed it was most unlikely that the woman would be identified in Perth.

The council considers that in the absence of any evidence that the woman, herself, felt her privacy had been breached, it is unable to uphold the complaint.

However, the council wishes to remind newspapers that they should be most careful in situations where people's privacy is involved. Its guidelines on this delicate issue state that the moral right of the individual to privacy is not to be infringed except where over-riding considerations of public interest are served by the publication of information about the private concerns of individuals.

The council considers the photograph's news value in depicting a dramatic rescue outweighed any suggestions of sexism. The complaint is dismissed.