Adjudication No. 785 (March 1995) [1995] APC 15

ADJUDICATION No. 785 (March 1995)

The Australian Press Council has upheld part of a complaint about a "vox pop" style report in The Advocate newspaper in Burnie, Tasmania.

The report was based on the comments of visitors arriving in Devonport on the Spirit of Tasmania who were asked their views on a proposed link road between Smithton and Zeehan on Tasmania's west coast.

An opponent of the road plan, Peter Sims, complained that the article was "typical of the biased reporting and skewed editorial content that has, for many months, misled readers and distorted the facts on this issue".

Five of the six visitors quoted said they thought the proposed road was a good idea.

The Council found that, in the context of the fierce local debate, the article was unfair because the visitors were unlikely to be aware of all the issues the road involved. Indeed, one of the quoted supporters prefaced his remarks with the observation that he was not exactly sure where the road was.

However, in upholding this point of the complaint, the Council felt it was more a case of poor reporting than of deliberate bias.

The Council did not agree that the paper's extensive coverage of the controversy over a long period could be held to be biased.

Though The Advocate's position, as expressed in its editorials, supported the road, its news reports and numerous letters published canvassed all sides of the debate.