Adjudication No. 1290 (adjudicated June 2005) [2005] APC 23

Adjudication No. 1290 (adjudciated June 2005)

The Australian Press Council has upheld a complaint against The West Australian over the linking headlines on two court reports.

Both reports dealt with driving cases; in one a motor-cyclist was killed and in the other a man was deliberately run over and severely injured. Over the full-page coverage was the main headline The courts of injustice; the first report had the sub-headline One judge says a man's life is worth less than five years and the second had ... despite another saying an injury is worth six.

The complainant, Val Buchanan, Public Information Officer for the WA Courts, made no complaint against the body of the two stories, but said that the headlines were "inflammatory and emotive" and not supported by the stories themselves. The use of 'courts of injustice' was an expression of opinion over factual court reporting.

The newspaper questioned Ms Buchanan's attribution to it of a motive "to create controversy and concern". It offered to go to mediation, and complained that an officer of the court was trying, through the Press Council, to influence how judgements are reported. The Council encourages the use of mediation to settle complaints and believes the issues might well have been addressed adequately through this mechanism.

Nonetheless, the Press Council holds that the opinion expressed in the main headline was inappropriate in court reporting. It would have been acceptable in an editorial on the matter, or in an opinion sidebar to the two reports.

Further, the Council points out that although there is a widespread temptation to compare one court result or sentence with another, the circumstances are rarely, if ever, exactly the same. Although comparisons can be legitimate, great care should be exercised in them by reporters, sub-editors and editors.