Adjudication No. 1059 (November 1999) [1999] APC 53

ADJUDICATION No. 1059 (November 1999)

The Australian Press Council has dismissed a complaint from Frank Brass, President of Merrilands College Council, that a report published in the Preston Post Times, a Melbourne suburban newspaper, was sensational and misreported his comments.

The bylined article titled, 'College Cash Crisis', followed a report in the Merrilands College newsletter in which Mr Brass detailed College expenditure on its education programs and described a funding shortfall for the programs.

In a subsequent report on the funding shortfall, the same bylined journalist described Mr Brass as saying the school was considering a range of initiatives to help meet the funding shortfall including building a private kindergarten and putting a McDonald's restaurant in the school grounds.

The journalist quoted Mr Brass, "We could sell off part of the school and build a McDonald's, for example, and run the franchise to ensure ongoing funding for the school. I am not saying that's going to happen but it's something we are looking at."

Although Mr Brass contacted the Preston Post Times' news editor after the article was published to express his concerns about it, he agreed that he had been quoted correctly. Mr Brass also spoke with the reporter and agreed that the content of the article was correct. However, he was unhappy that the newspaper had led on the McDonald's angle.

The news editor invited Mr Brass to put his concerns into a letter to the editor. An abridged version of the letter, agreed to by Mr Brass, was published.

The Press Council accepts that the College Council did not discuss a proposal to put a McDonald's on school grounds. However, Mr Brass did muse on that possibility with the reporter thus justifying the use of the McDonald's reference.