Adjudication No. 1034 (June 1999) [1999] APC 28

ADJUDICATION No. 1034 (June 1999)

The Press Council has dismissed a complaint by Virginia Robison against The Sun-Herald, about an opinion column critical of the recent NATO campaign against Serbia, prompted by the `ethnic cleansing' of Kosovo.

The column ("Once were heroes") sought to contrast the Serbs "who valiantly fought against Hitler and remained undefeated in World War II" with the "leaders of Kosovo's so-called liberation front [who] are bandits and mercenaries, armed and financed by deeply right-wing forces". It was a robust piece, punctuated by a number of provocative assertions.

Ms Robison complained that the article presented a distorted and inaccurate picture of the Kosovo conflict, and she took offence at its omission of any reference to the widely-reported atrocities committed against the Kosovar Albanians. She considered that, by publishing the article, The Sun-Herald was condoning genocide by the Serbs.

In a private letter to Ms Robison, the paper expressed regret that she had been offended by the column. However, it said that its author, as a columnist, was entitled to express his point of view, however controversial.

Ms Robison found this unsatisfactory, challenging the paper's right to support a writer whose column, in her view, breached Press Council principles of accuracy, fairness and avoidance of offence, among others.

The opinion column was written in the context of the broad coverage of the Kosovo conflict in The Sun-Herald and other media. It was but one opinion in that coverage. The Council's approach in similar matters has been to allow newspapers considerable latitude in what they publish as clearly-identified opinion pieces. By their very nature, such pieces often provoke disagreement amongst some readers, who are encouraged to write a letter to the editor putting their alternative point of view.