Adjudication No. 550 (March 1992) [1992] APC 20

Adjudication No. 550 (March 1992)

Ms Eszenyi complains to the Australian Press Council about a report "Man committed 'perverse acts', hearing told" in The Advertiser (Adelaide) of 23 October 1991, which she says uses the sexual torture of a woman for the purpose of sales and/or titillation. In her view, the article disparages women.

The editor denies this and says it was published discreetly on page 14. He says it was not published for titillation. Rather it was the duty of the newspaper to inform the public of proceedings in open court. The article was sanitised, he says, and this was the only complaint received.

The Council finds that the publication of the report was not a breach of taste so repugnant as to bring the freedom of the press into disrepute or be extremely offensive to the public. The Council does not agree that the story disparages women. The complaint is dismissed.