Adjudication No. 747 (September 1994) [1994] APC 56

ADJUDICATION No. 747 (September 1994)

The Australian Press Council has upheld a complaint from Mr Greg McKie about an article in the Herald Sun, entitled "Decrease blamed on female teachers". This article purported to cite Mr McKie's Master of Arts thesis on reasons for the decline of sport and physical education in Victorian schools. The article opened with a paragraph which read "An increase in female and older teachers has been blamed for the decline of sport and physical education in schools".

Throughout the article Mr McKie and his thesis are referred to and there are apparent quotations from the thesis.

Mr McKie complains that none of the comments attributed to him actually came from his thesis. He claims that the thesis has only just been submitted and that he never supplied the newspaper with a full copy of that thesis. Mr McKie had apparently faxed a copy of an article which he had prepared for the Victorian Cricket Association to the paper after a phone request from the journalist who prepared the story. That article was not a synopsis of the thesis. Apparently the article did contain other reasons for the decline in organised team sport in government secondary schools.

According to Mr McKie, there were other errors contained in the article in relation to his involvement in sporting organisations. Mr McKie claims that he contacted the newspaper on a number of occasions in writing and by phone and that the newspaper had not responded.

The newspaper claims it has no knowledge of an earlier complaint and says the reporter has no recollection of Mr McKie telling him the material he faxed was a copy of some other submission and not a synopsis of his thesis. There remains a dispute as to whether Mr McKie contacted the newspaper independently of the request from the journalist preparing the story.

The thesis referred to in the newspaper article contains, according to the complainant, a number of theories to explain the decline in organised school sport. From whatever material the newspaper had, it selected one aspect only and featured that. While that particular theory may have been topical, the manner in which the article has been prepared could be regarded as damaging to the reputation or interests of the complainant. The newspaper did not correct any misconceptions by publishing subsequent letters from Mr McKie, which indicated the broader range of his study.