Adjudication No. 585 (August 1992) [1992] APC 55

ADJUDICATION No. 585 (August 1992)

The Press Council has dismissed a complaint from Mrs Brenda Johnson against the Brisbane Courier-Mail, about an article ("Those poor old Poms!"), which appeared in the paper's by-lined "HART BEAT" column.

The article purported to sympathise with what the columnist saw as the current plight of the British, drawing on a selection of caricatures of British life, and insults to the Royal family and others to make its point:

" ... these are probably not great times in which to be an English person, however much you like warm beer, lousy weather, soggy chips, soccer and body odor".

"How extraordinary that a charming, dedicated, universally admired and largely uncomplicated woman like the Queen should find herself, in the twilight of her reign, wrestling with the peculiarities of a family of compete dingbats".

The article ended: " ... you wouldn't be a Pom for quids, would you?"

Mrs Johnson was outraged by the article, finding it offensive, likely to "enhance the racial problems existing in this country", and generally unfit for publication.

The Courier-Mail rejects the complaint, pointing out the humorous intent of the article, the columnist's "flamboyant and provocative" style, and what the paper considered to be the impossibility of taking the piece literally.

Mrs Johnson wrote a letter of protest to the editor, quoting the article but substituting the term 'Abbo' for 'Pom' in the opening paragraph of her quote. In so doing, she sought to underline the unacceptability of the article's jibes when applied to Aborigines, and to question the fairness of insulting the British in the same way. Her letter was not published.

Columns of the "HART BEAT" kind are often robust, and the Press Council recognises that they can give offence to some readers. In such circumstances, the Council encourages papers to publish letters of complaint.

However, the Council considers that the article relied on hyperbole for its effect, rather than malice: its failure in this regard, from Mrs Johnson's point of view, does not constitute a breach of the Council's principles.