Adjudication No. 282 (May 1986) [1986] APC 18

ADJUDICATION No. 282 (May 1986)

Mr Ian D Hardie has complained that three letters appearing in the Mildura Independent Star, critical of his candidacy in the 1985 Mildura Municipal elections, were not genuine. Only names, not addresses, were given.

Mr Hardie says: "Long-time Mildura residents say the three signatories are unknown to them. I cannot find their names in the voters roll for the City of Mildura, nor in the '050' telephone directory covering the area".

The editor has assured the Council that he himself authorised publication of the letters; he saw no reason to doubt that they were genuine; and, from memory since none was kept on file, the names published in two of the three cases were "signed under the names published".

However, it seems that, on occasions, fictitious names which appear to the readers to be genuine may have been used instead of the correct names of the writers.

The Press Council does not accept such a practice. The Council appreciates that difficulties do arise in relations to the publication of letters, but it believes that if noms-de-plume are to be used, they should be obvious no reader should be misled into believing that false names are real people.

In general, the Council believes newspapers are free to publish letters over a genuine name, with or without full address, over an obvious nom-deplume, over a "name and address supplied" line, and always in the belief that the letter writer is genuine and not seeking to hide his identity for any illegitimate purpose.

In particular cases, involving controversy or well-known names for example, it is desirable, fair and sometimes essential that identity checks should be made before the publication of letters.

In the case of the letter to the Mildura Independent, the Press Council considers that the letter writers should either have been known to the editor or their identity checked. The Council cannot say whether the letters were genuine or not, but it has no reason to doubt that the editor thought them genuine.