Adjudication No. 1016 (March 1999) [1999] APC 10

ADJUDICATION No. 1016 (March 1999)

The Press Council has dismissed a complaint from the head of the Palestine Delegation to Australia, Ali Kazak, concerning an opinion piece in the Australian Financial Review and the adequacy of the newspaper's attempts to provide balance to it.

Published on 23 December 1998, under the heading "With friends like the Palestinians, who needs enemies", the piece included the statement, "it would appear that the Palestinians remain vicious thugs".

Particular exception was taken to this comment.

On 30 December 1998 the paper published a response from Jim Hanna, a member of the Australian Arabic Council. This response was in the same format and given the same prominence as the original article. It drew attention to the offensive nature of the "vicious thug" reference and concluded with the words:

This comment - even in an opinion piece - borders on racism and is unworthy of the Australian Financial Review.

The central thrust of Mr Kazak's complaint was that the remarks were so offensive that they called for a public apology from the newspaper.

The Financial Review agreed that the comments were "strident" and that a response from Mr Kazak was justified. To that end it agreed to publish a letter from him. It did so on 4 January 1999. However, the last paragraph of the letter which demanded a public apology from the newspaper was omitted.

The Press Council recognises the right of a newspaper to edit letters and believes, in this case, the last paragraph was addressed more to the newspaper, rather than the reader.

The article was certainly vituperative but it was published as a clearly marked opinion piece. The newspaper provided adequate balance in the publication of Mr Hanna's opinion and Mr Kazak's letter.