Adjudication No. 979 (June 1998) [1998] APC 25

ADJUDICATION No. 979 (June 1998)

The Press Council has upheld a complaint by Tony Hardwicke against The Advocate, Burnie, for publishing an inappropriately captioned file photograph of Mr Hardwicke on 2 February 1998. Mr Hardwicke was the survivor of a local boating tragedy in which his close friend drowned and which was extensively reported by the paper.

At the time of the accident, Mr Hardwicke repeatedly refused permission for his photograph to be taken. The paper realised that it already had on file a photograph of Mr Hardwicke and published this with the report of the tragedy on the front page. However, this photograph showed Mr Hardwicke smiling and happy, which was inappropriate in the circumstances. As a result of this, he said that he had been subjected to "scathing criticism from strangers, friends and my late friend's family".

The paper has given an account of how the photo came to be used. However, the newspaper's editor acknowledged that more thought should have been given to the use of a qualifying caption with the photograph. And, in the absence of such a caption explaining the nature of the photograph as a file photograph, the complaint is upheld.

As a result of Mr Hardwicke's experience, the newspaper has reviewed its policy for the use of file photographs and will now point out in a caption when such photographs are used. This revised policy is in line with Press Council's principles and suggested practice.