Adjudication No. 807 (August 1995) [1995] APC 37

ADJUDICATION No. 807 (August 1995)

The Press Council has dismissed a complaint against a Perth group of suburban newspapers over its association of a property with the man who built it.

Under the headline, "Sam Rifici's house is all style", Post Newspapers published in each of its four newspapers on 10 February 1995 details of a house for auction. Apart from the headline, the only other reference to the late Mr Rifici, a prominent Perth businessman who had established a chain of hairdressing salons, was in the opening paragraph of the article, which stated that the house had been built for Mr Rifici in 1978.

The businessman's family said that the headline and article breached the Council's principles by failing to consider the privacy and feelings of the family and by falsely implying that the property still belonged to Mr Rifici. In establishing the latter claim, the family in part relied on the assertion that the use of the " 's " in the headline meant "it is", implying that the house was still owned by the family.

The newspaper responded that the description of the property was that of the agent, not the newspaper, and that, in reporting the association of Mr Rifici with the property, it was acting in good faith.

The Council recognises that the names of prominent owners of properties are used with regularity by vendors, without implying a continuing ownership of the property. The use of an apostrophe indicating possession does not necessarily imply the continuing connection made by the family.

In its reporting of the auction, the newspaper did no more than report the agent's description of the house. As the family had no connection with the property, it is difficult to see how its privacy was in any way compromised.