Adjudication No. 450 (August 1990) [1990] APC 22

ADJUDICATION No. 450 (August 1990)

While acknowledging that an editor has the final decision on what letters will be printed, the Australian Press Council believes arbitrary use of that right can limit readers' freedom to contribute their views on public issues.

Mr Fritz Schroeder complained to the Australian Press Council that the Sydney Morning Herald had failed to publish a letter he offered criticising statements made in an article, "Water Board in pollution breaches".

Mr Schroeder took issue with a statement attributed to the Water Board's spokesman in relation to the correction of sewage pollution breaches that "what we are going through is a process of identifying problems which the Water Board wouldn't even have identified to itself five years ago."

In his letter, Mr Schroeder argued the Water Board had known of such problems much earlier than five years ago and quoted from ministers and officials as far back as 1978 to support his point. He included copies of letters from three responsible government ministers in support.

After being told his letter was being considered for publication, Mr Schroeder tried unsuccessfully to contact the Sydney Morning Herald editor and was finally told to write another letter arguing his case for publication of the original letter.

The Sydney Morning Herald says it takes pride in its coverage of water pollution in NSW, that the coverage cannot be assessed by a single or even several articles and that Mr Schroeder's strong opinions, especially in a letter much longer than normally published, should not guarantee his words a place in the paper.

The Press Council acknowledges this coverage, and in this broader context Mr Schroeder's complaint does not seem justified. However, he did appear to have an important point to make, and the paper could have made more effort to negotiate a letter from him for publication. To this extent, the complaint is upheld.