Adjudication No. 779 (February 1995) [1995] APC 9

ADJUDICATION No. 779 (February 1995)

The Press Council has dismissed a complaint by the Northern Rivers Branch of the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (SSAA) against the Lismore Echo newspaper.

The sporting shooters complained about an article headed "DAAS (Doug Anthony All Stars) Guide to Fun", published in the Lismore Echo on 11 August 1994.

The article, noting the comedy group's appearance in Lismore two days later, said that the newspaper "at great expense to the management" had commissioned "an extensive guide to rural amusement".

There followed a satirical guide, written by a member of the DAAS, which suggested Echo readers should drink a vast amount of beer, buy "high calibre rifles with laser lights and snub nosed bullets" and drive "through the streets spotlighting Lismore locals. If you feel really tense drive to Byron Bay and waste some hippies". The guide further suggested that if readers were arrested, they should start sobbing and blame society before burning down the University Union building and leaving Lismore quickly.

An Echo reader, J. W. L. Dittmar, wrote to the paper, identifying himself as a member of the SSAA. The letter, which was published in full, said the Echo should be ashamed for printing irresponsible rubbish adding: "I regard our view of gun ownership [as] far more enlightened".

In a subsequent complaint to the Press Council, the SSAA (Northern Rivers Branch) said the DAAS Guide to Fun "excites unstable people to gun[Dhatch]violence and arson".

The branch felt that "the high percentage of mental patients in the Lismore area could be influenced by such an article" and added: "No doubt if an 'incident' occurred like [the] Strathfield [massacre], the Echo would gleefully editorialise against 'guns'".

The Echo's entertainment editor, Simon Thomsen, said the article had been intended "to convey the humorous nature of the Doug Anthony All Stars, as well as conveying some insight into the nature of DAAS's brand of humour".

In the Press Council's view, the newspaper, in publishing a satrical article, did not breach any of its principles and it fulfilled its obligations to those principles by promptly publishing the only letter objecting to the article it received.