Adjudication No. 947 (October 1997) [1997] APC 48

ADJUDICATION No. 947 (October 1997)

The Press Council has dismissed a complaint about a front page report in the Inner Western Suburbs Courier about a $200 million residential development on Sydney Harbour at Balmain.

Ian Bryce complained that the content of the report was totally biased in favour of the developers and was in effect an advertisement masquerading as news. Mr Bryce, a nearby resident, said the report failed to mention traffic congestion, parking problems and air pollution which he claimed the development would cause.

The editor-in-chief of Eastern Suburbs Newspapers, Mark Dennis, said the article by the newspaper's property editor reported a media conference held to launch the project. It was never intended to be a comprehensive wrap-up of all reactions to the development.

The Press Council believes that balance is important in news reports, but no single report can ever encompass all views. Mr Bryce's complaint that the report was harmfully inaccurate and was not presented honestly and fairly could not be substantiated.

However, the Press Council believes the newspaper could have attended to Mr Bryce's concerns by publishing his letter of complaint.