Adjudication No. 750 (September 1994) [1994] APC 59

ADJUDICATION No. 750 (September 1994)

The Press Council has upheld in part a complaint by Rick Boatswain against the Illawarra Mercury and has dismissed a complaint on a related matter against the South Coast Register.

The complaints arose out of reporting by the Illawarra Mercury and the South Coast Register in relation to the death of Leeanne Boatswain, the sister of the complainant. The reporting, it was alleged, was improper and blatantly irresponsible; and that the family, apart from being distressed by the reporting, had been "unduly exposed to a multitude of sensationalist media reports".

The Illawarra Mercury, in its edition of 30 November 1993, reported the death of Leeanne Boatswain, an invalid pensioner, under the headline "Disabled woman, 27, slain - Nowra Murder". The thrust of the complaint was that, at the time, the cause of death had not been established by the police authorities and that the newspaper was therefore drawing a conclusion "based upon their own prognosis". The newspaper was also said to be factually inaccurate in reporting that the police were interviewing "potential murder suspects". It was further alleged that the newspaper had caused distress because it had identified the dead person before all relevant members of the family had been informed.

The complaint against the South Coast Register was directed at the "perversely offensive" photograph which accompanied a report of the death in its 1 December 1993 edition.

The hearing of the complaints was held in abeyance, at the newspaper's request, until the completion of the official inquest.

The Council upheld the complaint against the headline in the Illawarra Mercury on the grounds that it was not substantiated by the body of the story, which noted, among other things, the possibility of death by an epileptic fit.

The Illawarra Mercury had published the name of the deceased in the belief that it had been cleared by the police for publication. If an error had occurred on this occasion, it was attributed to an "unfortunate breakdown in communication somewhere along the line". The Council accepts the assurance of the paper that it is not their policy to be recklessly indifferent when publishing names of deceased people. However, the Council is not convinced that the newspaper had taken appropriate steps to ensure that the authorities had cleared the name for publication. This aspect of the complaint against the Illawarra Mercury is also upheld.

The Council does not accept the contention of the complainant that the 1 December photograph was "extremely repugnant". The complaint against the South Coast Register is thereby dismissed.