Adjudication No. 427 (November 1989) [1989] APC 39

ADJUDICATION NO. 427 (November 1989)

The WIN TV Newsroom staff complained to The Australian Press Council concerning an article which appeared on the front page of the Illawarra Mercury on 31 July 1989 referring to the disappearance of WIN TV news presenter, Ross Warren, under the headline, "Gay TV man's heartbreak: BROKEN AFFAIR KILLED WARREN". The article opens with a statement, "WIN TV weatherman Ross Warren may have killed himself after his lover ended their homosexual relationship. Jilted and deeply depressed when his lover dropped him for another person, Mr Warren most likely jumped into raging seas off rocks at Bondi Beach."

The complainants believe the statements in the article were a total fabrication. They say that to date there is no proof that Ross Warren is dead, for be is only listed as missing. Police, they say, have no evidence to suggest he either committed suicide or met with an accident. Even worse, the complainants say, is the blatant use of a person's sexual preferences as the basis for a story. They take extreme offence at what they describe as a tasteless display of writing and hope that it has not caused more distress for his family.

In reply, the newspaper stands by its story. The editor states that reporters working on the case spoke to a number of police. They received dozens and dozens of phone calls from people volunteering information. Reporters checked a number of leads and many were discounted. They investigated Mr Warren's past and found that he was convicted for homosexual of fences. The editor claims there was overwhelming public interest in the case and enough circumstantial evidence to suggest that Mr Warren had died possibly by suicide.

The Council accepts that the newspaper undertook a substantial investigation and relied on sources which it felt must remain anonymous. However, the headline, "Gay TV man's heartbreak: BROKEN AFFAIR KILLED WARREN" is cause for concern. The complainants consider that it was deliberately misleading, and contributed to an impression that the theory about

Mr Warren's disappearance contained in the article was based on fact.

The Press Council finds that the headline was irresponsibly misleading because it offered as fact what was mere speculation in the article. The Council upholds the complaint about the headline.

The article is certainly sensational, intrusive and largely based on theories. However, Mr Warren's local prominence dictated that public interest in his disappearance would be high and his lifestyle warranted mention because of its possible bearing on that disappearance.

These more general aspects of the complaint are therefore dismissed.