Adjudication No. 1026 (May 1999) [1999] APC 20

ADJUDICATION No. 1026 (May 1999)

The Australian Press Council has dismissed a complaint from Scott Balson concerning an article published in the Courier-Mail, 20 March 1999, under the heading "Web of racism traps One Nation".

His complaint was that "The headline on the article is a lie because my @notd [Mr Balson's internet-published newspaper] has absolutely no link with One Nation".

The Courier-Mail argued that the absence of a disclaimer on the @notd site and the fact that readers were "presented with a website promoting One Nation activities and views, published and conducted by One Nation's webmaster" were a sufficient basis to justify a connection between One Nation and Mr Balson's internet site.

On the other hand Mr Balson points out that there was a disclaimer on his company's home page which was readily accessible to readers and that the domain name of his internet site and that of One Nation's were clearly different. He also said that "my paper carries my views and NOT THOSE OF ONE NATION and the entries carried have no authorisation from the One Nation executive". He further says that this point was made clear to the reporter.

Having considered all of the material and the various explanations of the parties the Press Council finds that a reasonable reader would find a connection between Mr Balson's website and One Nation.