Adjudication No. 600 (October 1992) [1992] APC 70

ADJUDICATION No. 600 (October 1992)

The Australian Press Council has dismissed a complaint against the Sunday Mail newspaper in Brisbane regarding a poster on the city's history entitled "our first 150 years".

The poster, published by the newspaper on 7 June 1992, included and article on the development of the city from a penal settlement after the arrival of free settlers.

Mr Richard Buchhorn of West End, Brisbane, complained that the title and text on the poster effectively denied the identity of the Aboriginal people who lived in the Brisbane area by omitting any reference to them.

Mr Buchhorn said the omission runs counter to the process of reconciliation between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people and was a breach of Press Council principles.

He referred to principle 10 which states: "If material damaging to the reputation or interests of an individual, corporation, organisation pr specific group of people is published, opportunity for prompt and appropriately prominent reply at reasonable length should be given by the newspaper concerned, wherever fairness so requires".

Racial reconciliation is a sensitive issue, particularly when newspapers invite public discussion about the colonial era.

The Press Council accepts that the poster focused on a limited period of Brisbane's history, and that Mr Buchhorn was justified in pointing out the wider context of settlement in the area. It would have been reasonable for the paper to publish his short letter, putting this point of view.

However, the newspaper's approach did not breach Press Council principles.