Adjudication No. 773 (January 1995) [1995] APC 3

ADJUDICATION No. 773 (January 1995)

The Australian Press Council says a reader's complaint about a report of a Tasmanian rally on family values underlines the care newspapers need to take when dealing with controversial issues.

Mieke Devries, a Kingston mother and community worker, complained she had been seriously misrepresented in an article in The Mercury, Hobart, purporting to report on a rally outside Parliament House on 25 September, 1994.

Promotion material, clearly opposed to gay law reform, billed the event as "Family Democracy Day - a State-wide celebration of the family and all it stands for". Before and after the rally, The Mercury had wrongly stated it was organised by Tas-Alert, an organisation generally regarded as being anti-gay.

The Mercury published an article quoting Tas-Alert secretary, Richard Gibbs, one of the speakers, and a picture of Mrs Devries, another speaker, addressing the gathering.

Mrs Devries complained that the story and picture had appeared under a six-column banner headline "Anti-gay rally slams Coalition's law reform stance". She asserted it was not an anti-gay rally; that she was not anti-gay; and that her address and the emphasis of the rally had been on promoting family values. Further, the rally had not been organised by Tas-Alert and none of her remarks or any others on family issues had been reported.

Her request for an apology had been rejected by The Mercury but senior editorial and management staff had suggested she write a letter to the editor. This, clearly explaining her position and the purpose of the rally, was published in full three days after the original article appeared.

The Mercury admitted Tas-Alert had not organised the rally and it had not taken steps to ascertain who had but no action had been taken by anyone connected with it to correct the notion of a direct link with Tas-Alert, despite opportunities to do so. Further, it suggested that the participation of Mr Gibbs and the display of posters commonplace with Tas-Alert rallies would lead "any reasonable person" to contend the gathering was anti-gay.

The newspaper claimed the headline that had offended Mrs Devries was an accurate reflection of the report following. It denied any distortion of facts or that it had not distinguished between fact and opinion and considered publication of her letter to the editor was "sufficient remedy for the complaints".

The Press Council acknowledges that in matters controversial and sensitive, the gay rights issue in Tasmania being a good example, newspapers needed to take particular care in identifying issues and the attitudes of people and organisations. A broad spectrum approach categorising simply pros and antis when complex issues were involved left publishers open to challenge under the Council's guiding principles.

The Press Council finds that an inaccuracy has been established in the reporting by The Mercury, and it would have been better if the caption on the photograph of Mrs Devries had reflected that her speech was on "family values" not gay law reform. But the Council acknowledges that the paper had taken prompt action to remedy misunderstanding of attitude or any personal distress by publishing in full Mrs Devries' letter.