Adjudication No. 685 (Novermber 1993) [1993] APC 77

ADJUDICATION No. 685 (Novermber 1993)

The Australian Press Council has upheld a complaint by Woollahra Councillor Neville Gruzman against one local newspaper and dismissed his complaint against a second local paper.

The complaints stem from reportage of the upshot of an in-camera meeting of the Woollahra Council - the termination of the employment of one of the area's most notable citizens, town clerk/general manager Michael Regnis.

It was the way his termination was reported by the Eastern Express and by the Wentworth Courier which led Mr Gruzman to bring his complaints.

His view was that the papers wrongly conveyed that Mr Regnis had been "sacked" or "axed" rather than that Mr Regnis had decided not to reapply for a position made redundant by a new Act of Parliament, and that a satisfactory redundancy severance had been triggered by this initiative of Mr Regnis.

The headline of the Eastern Express lead story was: "Woollahra sacks Regnis." That of the Wentworth Courier was: "Axe falls on Regnis."

A letter from Mr Gruzman was published by the Eastern Express - a paper no longer published.

The Press Council found that the Eastern Express heading was inaccurate, and upheld that part of Mr Gruzman's complaint.

The editor of the Wentworth Courier took a different view - that the paper's headline and reportage were accurate and that the argument was one of semantics.

In this matter no animus was demonstrated by the Courier to Mr Gruzman or by Mr Gruzman to the Courier. But they were unable to agree, and the Courier was unwilling to publish Mr Gruzman's letter.

In this case, the Council accepted the Courier's view and dismissed the Councillor's complaint.