Adjudication No. 254 (September 1985) [1985] APC 46

ADJUDICATION No. 254 (September 1985)

Mrs. Lesley Miles complains of certain changes made by The Border Morning Mail to a letter written by her as Press Officer of the Berrigan-Jerilderie-Barooga Branch of the Australian Labour Party and published in the paper on January 8, 1985.

Newspapers commonly have far more letters than they have room to publish, and they must not only reject many letters but, in the interests of publishing as many as possible, impose some degree of brevity on those they do publish. Correspondents who are prolix, or include material of little importance, or write without due to regard to the space which the paper normally allots to a letter, must accept the risk that their cherished compositions will be cut. They must also expect that their letters. will be edited in accordance with standard style rules of the paper.

If a correspondent is not willing to submit to this treatment, he or she should so stipulate when submitting the letter. Otherwise the paper is entitled to edit or shorten the letter in accordance with normal practice, so long as it does not alter the meaning or character of the letter without its author's consent.

In the present case Mrs. Miles submitted a letter of 286 words of which 232 were published. It was edited to conform to the paper's style, particularly by substituting "Labor" for "ALP". The shortening of the letter was by deleting matter not essential to its theme. In the view of the Press Council, Mrs Miles would have no cause for complaint, were it not for some minor carelessness in the editing, which is conceded by the paper.

This does not seriously affect the letter, and no action by the Council is called for.