Adjudication No. 1166 (May 2002) [2002] APC 21

Adjudication No. 1166 (May 2002)

The Australian Press Council has dismissed a complaint by James Webster against the weekly Benalla Ensign over a letter to the editor about the Winton Motor Raceway.

Mr Webster claimed the letter, written by Matthew Ronke, contained numerous inaccuracies and errors, among them a suggestion that a fire had partially destroyed the Winton race control building after Mr Webster had requested an inspection of the facility by the CFA chief fire inspector for Victoria.

Mr Webster said he had attended the fire as a volunteer fireman with the Winton Fire Brigade and, only after the fire, had he written a letter of complaint to the district Fire Brigade.

Mr Webster said he contacted the newspaper on the day the letter was published and demanded a retraction. The newspaper offered him the option of a rebuttal. However, a letter to the editor from the Winton Fire Brigade captain, which Mr Webster said had been written on his behalf, was not published.

In reply the publisher of the Benalla Ensign said he was not aware of any direct attempt by Mr Webster personally to respond to the letter. He said the paper remained happy to publish the views of Mr Webster addressing the claimed inaccuracies, an offer that Mr Webster could well have accepted as a way of settling his concerns.

Mr Webster further claimed the newspaper had been biased in its coverage of issues surrounding development proposals for the Winton Motor Raceway and was critical of the role played by its publisher, Matthew Jenkins, who is also chairman of Action Benalla - an organisation in favour of further development.

The issue of the Winton Motor Raceway has been a contentious one since 1995 and has been the subject of no less than three Ministerial Panels, with letters, articles and news items appearing in the Benalla Ensign on an almost weekly basis.

Between November 2001 and April 2002, the newspaper, which has openly supported development in its editorials, published more than 50 references to the Winton Raceway including more than 20 expressing opposition to the development, and an almost equal number in support.

The Press Council's view is that the Benalla Ensign has provided a fair and balanced coverage of the issue over several months and can find no evidence of bias.