Adjudication No. 1080 (May 2000) [2000] APC 15

ADJUDICATION No. 1080 (May 2000)

In partly upholding a complaint over articles in The Sun-Herald, Sydney, about the charitable donation habits of the rich, the Australian Press Council notes that newspapers should make serious efforts to publish corrections and explanations as soon as possible.

The articles, led by a page one story headline, "IT'S A BIT RICH ... Survey reveals $1m earners give nothing to charity", were published on 30 January 2000.

The substance of the articles was that large numbers of very rich Australians did not contribute to charity. The stories were based on Australian Tax Office statistics which related only to personal income tax returns.

The complainant, Michael Walsh, the executive director of Givewell, a firm involved in charitable donations, pointed out directly to the newspaper and, ultimately, in the published letter, that the Tax Office figures were out of date and did not reflect the reality that many of the rich Australians made gifts to charity through other means, including partnerships, trusts and companies, none of which are reflected in their personal tax returns.

The complainant also pointed out that many rich Australians either made their charitable contributions in their wills or chose not to claim tax deductions for their gifts, facts not reflected in The Sun-Herald's articles.

Mr Walsh had originally expressed his concerns to The Sun-Herald as early as 31 January 2000 - the day after publication of the contentious articles. On 26 March 2000, the newspaper published a letter from the complainant which addressed his central concerns.

Had the newspaper not been so dilatory in publishing a reasonably held view contrary to the thrust of its original articles and other comment pieces published in the interim by byline writers who took the original stories as gospel, the Press Council would have dismissed the complaint.

But the Council's principles are not only about correcting mistakes and encouraging the press to provide space for a wide variety of views, but also about that space being provided promptly. A delay of two months, or about eight issues of a weekly Sunday newspaper, can hardly be described as prompt.

It is for the lack of promptness that the Press Council partly upheld this complaint.