Adjudication No. 1001 (October 1998) [1998] APC 45

ADJUDICATION No. 1001 (October 1998)

The Press Council has upheld a complaint by Karin Geradts against The Advertiser, Eltham, Victoria, about a front page article attacking a proposed rate levy designed to benefit local Aboriginal people. However it dismissed Ms Geradts' complaint against an editorial on the same subject.

The article, one of two short pieces published on a page otherwise occupied by display advertisements and the paper's masthead, appeared under the banner headline "$5 LEVY - EACH !".

The first paragraph read, "ALL HOUSEHOLDS will pay a $5 annual levy on their rates - with the cash being paid directly to the local Aboriginal community". The second paragraph added that this was an "$85,000 idea put by the Wurundjeri Tribe, Land and Compensation Cultural Heritage Council" to the Nillumbik Shire Council.

The editorial on the following page was devoted to vigorous criticism of the Shire Council, and of the rate levy proposal described by the Aboriginal leader who proposed it as a "Paying The Rent Concept".

Ms Geradts complained that in the context of the "current race debate", the two pieces were "scandalous, inciteful, hysterical, and offensive to the general public" and to the individuals and organisations criticised by The Advertiser.

She refused to write to the paper to put her views, stating that the editor had, in the past, used her letters as feature articles that merely served to "perpetuate his `rag'".

The paper, with equal vigour, insisted that the article was "nothing but historical fact, as borne out by the Nillumbik Shire Council minutes". It defended its right to publish editorial comment as it saw fit.

The Press Council has consistently supported a newspaper's right to express its opinions in an editorial, and does so in the case of this particular editorial. Whatever Ms Geradts' reason for refusing to write to the paper, the editorial itself clearly did not put The Advertiser in breach of the Press Council's principles.

The article, however, omitted to emphasise to readers that the "Paying The Rent Concept" was only a submission on which the Shire Council intended to seek community views before responding.

The article's strident headline, its lead sentence as quoted above and reference to an earlier reconciliation initiative supported by the Shire all created an impression that the rate levy proposal was considerably closer to being adopted than it actually was. To the extent that this lack of balance was potentially misleading to readers, the complaint is upheld.