Adjudication No. 934 (July 1997) [1997] APC 35

ADJUDICATION No. 934 (July 1997)

The Australian Press Council has upheld in part a complaint from the Sisters of Mercy against an article published in The Age on 30 April 1997.

Headed "An education in mercy" the article recalls the author's personal experiences of harsh, sometimes violent, treatment while boarding at Catholic convent schools in the 1950s.

The nub of the complaint is that the article contains gratuitously insulting speculation on why women join religious orders and "numerous inaccuracies in an article purporting to be true".

The Press Council does not believe that the reminiscences exceeded the bounds of reasonable or accurate comment in an article of personal opinion.

A letter in response to the article from the Sisters of Mercy was submitted to the letters editor. While the newspaper published at least one letter generally critical of the article, it should have provided an opportunity to the Sisters of Mercy for a balancing response. To the extent that it did not, the complaint is upheld.