Adjudication No. 782 (March 1995) [1995] APC 12

ADJUDICATION No. 782 (March 1995)

The Press Council has dismissed a complaint against the Sydney community paper Capital Q Weekly over its coverage of the controversial annual general meeting of a charity, the Bobby Goldsmith Foundation (BGF).

Bo C Vilan complained that an article published in July last under the headline "Scandal plagues BGF elections" offended a number of the Council's principles dealing with truth, balance and misrepresentation and, as a result, damaged the standing of the charity.

The headline was strong but was over a story about an organisation with a membership of around 200 faced with another 100 or so applications for membership immediately before the meeting.

People seeking membership were reportedly supporters of a rival ticket to the incumbent committee and only a few of the applications were accepted by the meeting date.

Selection of the committee was obviously of vital interest to some people and was the subject of other letters and stories in Capital Q Weekly.

The Press Council believes that, while the story complained of could be read to favour one side over the other, overall the author presented both sides of the debate in a fair and responsible manner and that the community had the right to know of the upheaval in an organisation they were being asked financially to support.