Adjudication No. 1158 (February 2002) [2002] APC 13

Adjudication No. 1158 (February 2002)

The Press Council has dismissed a complaint against a 4 October 2001 Sydney Morning Herald commentary article, written by Paul Sheehan, under the heading, "Analyse this, you pious hypocrites".

Briefly stated the article contended that, in the wake of the terrorist attacks of 11 September, the Left's moral relativism was "rampant", and that many explanations for the 11 September mass murders carried "more than a whiff of racism".

After giving examples of this proposition Mr Sheehan suggested that the reactions of the average American to 11 September was best summed up by a New York Post columnist who was quoted at length. In respect of the UN, the Post column said:

Now the United Nations is serving yet another function: it has become the quietest place on Earth ... Where are the resolutions? The outrage? The deep, heartfelt expressions of regret? Not here. Not now. And certainly not for us.

The assertions contained in the quote concerning UN inaction were not true and in another article by Mr Sheehan published in the Herald on 10 October he accurately reported UN action which included a strong condemnation of terrorism.

David Godden complained that the 4 October article breached the Council's principle that newspapers should not publish material it should know to be untrue.

In its defence the newspaper argued that the quote of the American columnist was simply used to convey the depth of outrage felt by many Americans. The Herald article did not address the issue of the truth of the assertions within the quote. Its response was that "it was plainly the view of a prominent American commentator, not that of Mr Sheehan."

The Council believes that the quote was intended to illustrate the American view; the truth or otherwise of the Post columnist's views was not discussed in the Herald commentary.

The commentary was published in the midst of extensive coverage of events subsequent to the 11 September attacks. Herald readers were unlikely to be misled by the hyperbolic quote from the Post column which was, in any case, clarified in the 10 October commentary.