Adjudication No. 1323 (adjudicated July 2006) [2006] APC 17

Adjudication No. 1323 (adjudicated July 2006)

The Australian Press Council has upheld a complaint against Cosmopolitan magazine from the family of two young women, Colleen and Laura Irwin, who were brutally murdered in their Altona North, Melbourne, home in January this year.

The May edition of Cosmopolitan published an article which carried the lines The Irwin sisters from Melbourne were being stalked but didn't speak up ... NOW THEY'RE DEAD above a picture of the sisters and the words THE SUBURBAN STALKER KILLINGS below the photograph.

The article consisted of a compilation of previously published material concerning the murders and quoted an unnamed source as saying she believed Laura was being stalked and that Laura was aware of this. It also published previous comments from the victims' father that the stalker theory was "bullshit" and that, if either of the women had known of a stalker, they as parents would have been told about it. No-one in the family was approached by Cosmopolitan for comment for the article.

Allan and Shirley Irwin and the sisters' aunt and uncle, Dianne and Hugh McGowan, complained that the article had caused enormous hurt to their family and friends. Shirley Irwin said her daughters were never stalked and the police had never said anything to support the contention. The McGowans said the magazine gave readers the false impression that the sisters contributed to their own deaths.

In its response the magazine said its intention in publishing the article was not to exacerbate the suffering of the Irwin family and the girls' friends, but to address stalking which was an issue of considerable public interest.

A write-off with the article said "Here's the full story and what we can take away from it" and a second article headed What to do if you are being stalked included a list of dos and don'ts and a panel alerting readers about how to contact Crime Stoppers.

Mr McGowan sent a suggested apology to Cosmopolitan in the form of an article to carry an approved picture of the sisters. The magazine offered an alternative version. This was rejected by the family, as being too brief and not prominent enough. The Council agrees that the magazine's version would not have provided appropriate redress.

The Council believes the magazine acted irresponsibly in pursuing a stalker theory in the face of denials from both the victims' father and a Homicide detective who had specifically ruled out stalking in one of the newspaper reports on which the Cosmopolitan article was based. The magazine's justification for not interviewing the family, and its efforts to check facts with the police, do not meet the standards of responsible journalism expected by the Press Council.

The Council is strongly of the view that, when the Irwin family contacted it, the magazine should have published a prompt and appropriately prominent apology to the family.