Adjudication No. 1182 (November 2002) [2002] APC 37

Adjudication No. 1182 (November 2002)

The Australian Press Council has dismissed a complaint by Judith Snyman against the Townsville Sun concerning a series of Page 3 photographs.

Ms Snyman says the photographs were the worst in a deteriorating exhibition of "page 3 girls" and were of an extremely sexually titillating intent. She believed they were pornographic.

The editor, Bruce MacDonald, says the photographs were provocative but certainly not pornographic.

The first of the photographs, featuring a female boxer, Coral Sanders, appeared on 21 August, and on 28 August in response to reader reaction, Mr MacDonald ran a front page story on the issue under the heading, DID WE GO TOO FAR? Inside that edition Mr MacDonald published a series of readers' letters, mainly complaining about the photograph.

On 4 September more letters were published together with a signed editorial from Mr MacDonald in which he said the issue on page 3 photographs had been a "steep learning curve for me and as a legacy of the controversy I have a much better insight into what makes you tick".

The women depicted in the photographs have not complained.

Although the photograph of Ms Sanders pushed the boundaries of good taste and decency, and was likely to be controversial when published in a freely available community newspaper, the Council believes it was not pornographic or unnecessarily offensive. Two subsequent photographs of "page 3 girls" could not be classed as offensive.

Far more explicit photographs are commonly displayed on posters, magazine covers and in a wide range of media outlets.

Unless published material is extremely offensive the Council believes it should not attempt to act as a censor of taste and picture selection.