Adjudication No. 611 (January 1993) [1993] APC 3

ADJUDICATION No. 611 (January 1993)

The Australian Press Council has upheld in part a complaint by Mr John Halfpenny concerning an article "Unions are racist - report" in the Herald-Sun of 16 September 1992.

Mr Halfpenny says that the headline was misleading. He says that the report was about the existence of racism within unions, which was not the same as saying that unions were racist.

The newspaper was quoting a report from the Bureau of Immigration Research:

"A majority of officials perceived racism and ethnic tensions to be a problem within their union."

The newspaper says the headline was justified by the report. The Council believes it was not. The complaint demonstrates that care with which headlines need to be crafted, although this must be balanced by the need for brevity.

Mr Halfpenny also complains that the newspaper did not sufficiently acknowledge the participation of unions in the compilation of the report, including his own involvement in its launching. The Council believes that the unions' co-operation was implied in the article; the paper says that its Canberra-based reporter was unaware of the Melbourne launch.

The Council notes that the newspaper subsequently offered Mr Halfpenny the opportunity of a reply.