Adjudication No. 513 (August 1991) [1991] APC 47

Adjudication No. 513 (August 1991)

The Australian Press Council had dismissed a complaint brought against the Sydney Morning Herald over a report on reaction to Treasurer Kerin's approach to economic problems.

The by-lined page 1 report described a fall of 14 points in the stock market index in trading on 4 June as a "nervous sell-off" of shares "triggered" by Mr Kerin telling the ALP Caucus that it was "time to look at key policy issues from a different perspective".

The report went on to record some ministers' surprise at "the pessimistic outlook", concern over double-digit unemployment, and the presentation of a new economic agenda by the Left Wing of the party in a wide-ranging Caucus debate. On the financial side, the report mentioned the stock market falling and the long term bond rate rising after concerns of political instability.

Mr G.F. Courtney complained to the Council that the report was unfair and biased in that it "improperly attributed" the market fall to Mr Kerin's statement to Caucus when, in fact, it was well within normal market variations. Further, the article gave the impression that any departure from current economic policy was an adverse development and that anything emanating from the Left Wing was necessarily bad.

At the core of his complaint is the charge that the Left Wing point of view was not adequately reported and the public not properly informed.

The Sydney Morning Herald replied that it had dealt with "observable facts - a politician's statement, the reaction to that statement in the financial markets and the opinions held by the market traders as to a direct link between the statement and the reaction".

The article's writer replied: "My report did not suggest that a change in policy direction was a bad thing. It suggested only that a change in direction was a possibility, and that the markets were responding to such a prospect."

The Press Council accepts that the paper reported the facts as it saw them. The article was a by-lined report to be read in combination with other reports in the paper on political and financial matters. Any reasonable reading of the SMH as a whole and over a period would show a fair and wide reporting of economic and political views.