Adjudication No. 1218 (October 2003) [2003] APC 34

Adjudication No. 1218 (October 2003)

The Australian Press Council has upheld a complaint over the use of the word "traitor" in two headlines in the Sunday Telegraph.

Both headlines were on reports on the suspension of the military trial by the US government of the alleged Taliban fighter David Hicks and the possibility that he could be put on trial in Australia, his home country.

The lead headline on the front page on 20 July 2003 was: BRING HOME THE TRAITOR and another headline over the full story on page 9 was: Traitor may be tried at home.

The complainant, Dr Michael Costigan, executive secretary of the Bishops' Committee for Justice, Development, Ecology and Peace, said the headlines did not present news honestly and fairly. He said they constituted a comment amounting to an unsubstantiated judgment that David Hicks, as yet not placed on trial for allegedly treasonous conduct, is or could reasonably be called a "traitor".

The two headings disregarded the principle of presumption of innocence and implied a very serious criticism of Mr Hicks in a way that totally lacked fairness and balance, he said. The newspaper was "riding roughshod over his basic human rights".

Dr Costigan also said the front-page headline was an unsubtle appeal to prejudice.

The paper said that Mr Hicks was facing an American military tribunal, not an Australian court, so the presumption of innocence did not apply.

In addition, the paper said there had been many references in other media to Mr Hicks as a terrorist and Taliban fighter.

While rejecting the allegation that the newspaper deliberately set out to influence any future trial of Mr Hicks, the Press Council considers that the use of the word "traitor" in the headlines was not backed up in the full report.

The word "traitor" was not used anywhere in the brief story on page 1 or in the full story on page 9. On page 1 he was referred to as "alleged Taliban fighter" and on page 9 he was described as "terrorist suspect David Hicks." The report did say he had been declared an "enemy combatant" by the US government after being found fighting in Afghanistan.

The report concerned the hurdles faced in bringing Mr Hicks home to face trial and the Australian Prime Minister's comments on talks with the US to get a fair procedure so natural justice could be served.

The Press Council found that the use of the word "traitor" in the headlines was not consistent with the newspaper's full report which spoke of "allegations" and recognised that Mr Hicks had not faced trial.