Adjudication No. 604 (October 1992) [1992] APC 74

ADJUDICATION NO. 604 (October 1992)

The Australian Press Council has dismissed a complaint by Mr David Parnell against the Daily Mercury, Mackay, concerning the editing of a letter from him published in the paper on 17 June 1992.

The purpose of Mr Parnell's letter was to congratulate the Reserve Bank Governor for "standing up" to the Prime Minister (and refusing to retain the image of Caroline Chisholm on the new $5 note). The letter resulted from an item headlined "Reserve bank defies PM" and an editorial "Caroline should stay on note", published in the Daily Mercury on 11 June 1992.

Mr Parnell complains about the omission of a "not" and some rewording by the editor, and requests that the paper print his letter without additions, alterations or omissions.

The omission of "not" was corrected the next day by a 'boxed' clarification on the letters page of the paper and the editor has apologised personally to mr Parnell for the omission.

The paper believed it was essential that an explanation be given in the letter why Mr Parnell was applauding the action of the Governor of the Reserve bank in apparently defying Mr Keating. It therefore added to the opening sentence of the letter "and refusing to retain the image of Caroline Chisholm on the five dollar note".

Although stories and an editorial on the matter has been published previously, the paper stated it could not be assumed that all readers of the paper on the day Mr Parnell's letter appeared had read previous issues or were familiar with the topic.

As Mr Parnell's letter was published a week after the original story appeared, the Press Council believes it was not unreasonable for the explanatory words to have been added.

In the editing process the words "this excuse of a Prime Minister we have" were dropped, but the tenor of the letter was not changed.

The Council notes that the editor has, however, promised to consult Mr Parnell before making changes to any of his letters in future.