Adjudication No. 1100 (January 2001) [2001] APC 1

Adjudication No. 1100 (January 2001)

The Australian Press Council has upheld a complaint against the magazine New Idea by Margaret Maddock, of Newtown, NSW. She had been interviewed by a New Idea journalist on the recommendation of staff at a magazine, The Big Issue.

Selling The Big Issue as a street vendor had helped Ms Maddock, a single mother, get back on her feet. She was grateful to the publication and happy to publicise it. So she agreed to the interview by New Idea.

New Idea did not publish an interview. Instead it published what purported to be a letter from Ms Maddock on a page labelled "Chat Room". It then notified Ms Maddock that she had won a prize of $500 for writing a letter which achieved publication in a section where readers were invited to submit letters outlining "life changing experiences" and vie for prizes of $500.

Ms Maddock considered she had been deceived since it was never put to her that she would be presented to the public as writing a letter in pursuit of a prize.

She was embarrassed by this misrepresentation and also upset by the style of the "letter" which she felt was well below the quality of her own writing; she thought the "letter" showed her as a different person from her reality; and complained it was inaccurate and demeaning. She refused to accept the cheque, and sought some redress from New Idea.

New Idea responded to Ms Maddock, and later to the Press Council in a peculiar way. It expressed surprise that she should be offended by what it described as "the story", expressed admiration for The Big Issue organisation, said it could find "no major inaccuracies in your article", and asked if she would like to nominate a charity to receive the $500.

It declared to the Press Council that its reporter had acted "in a reasonable and responsible manner" and had in fact "left out certain items" discussed in the interview "to spare the privacy of Ms Maddock and her daughter".

As to concocting a letter without permission or allowing it to be checked, New Idea explained: "We source real-life stories in several ways".

The Press Council considers the magazine's treatment of Ms Maddock to have been a long way short of acceptable standards of journalism.