Adjudication No. 1313 (adjudicated March 2006) [2006] APC 7

Adjudication No. 1313 (adjudciated March 2006)

The Australian Press Council has upheld complaints against The Advertiser, Adelaide, from the Ceduna Area School and from Darcy O'Shea, the parent of a student and spouse of a teacher at the school. The complainants said that the articles, published in March 2005, covering community debate on dealing with violent incidents by students, breached six Press Council principles. They were that reasonable steps were not taken to check accuracy; that the newspaper failed to make amends; that it obtained photographs by dishonest or unfair means; that it did not treat readers fairly; that gratuitous emphasis was placed on colour; and that it failed to ensure balance and fairness when singling out a group for criticism.

Two versions of a front page article on 24 March were published under the headline, School Kids Segregated, along with a second heading, White and black separated in detention. They also featured two photographs: one labelled as a "white" detention room containing two desks and three chairs; the other of a room described as spacious, labelled "black", and said to have a TV, couch and table tennis table.

Both versions of the article, the first written for the earlier state edition and the second for the later metropolitan edition, quoted a view that segregation of students at Ceduna Area School was "apartheid". They reported opinions that the separation had contributed to increased violence at the school.

The first version was written hours before a public meeting to discuss the violence. It quoted the State's education minister, the opposition's education spokesperson, the school's principal and others. The later edition was amended to include comments made during and after the meeting, including by the principal.

The school said the room labeled as "white" was in fact a focus room used by Year 6-12 students of any background. The so-called "black" room was used as a home room, not exclusively by Aboriginal students and not for detentions. It said that students were not segregated at the school. It also said that the newspaper failed to correct its mistakes after the principal had provided information about the inaccuracies.

Mr O'Shea said that no attempt was made to check that the two rooms photographed were segregated detention rooms. He said that the emphasis placed by the article on colour was insensitive and inflammatory, as well as being inaccurate.

The newspaper published a follow-up article the next day quoting Aboriginal community leaders saying that the "black" room was available to non-Aboriginal children. It also ran a number of letters in subsequent days, some critical of its coverage. The Advertiser said that it rejected the main thrust of both complaints and believed that its reports were accurate. It said that it tried to contact the school principal before the first article was published, but its calls were not returned. It also offered to participate in a mediated settlement. No such talks occurred.

It also offered to "set the record straight" by sending a reporter to Ceduna to report on school initiatives addressing the local community's grievances and aimed at improving racial harmony. A year later it has not done so.

Newspapers are justified in reporting sensitive issues of colour and race in small, regional communities, particularly when it is done in the public interest and relates to serious matters such as violence. They have, however, a clear obligation to ensure the accuracy of all aspects of their coverage, including news reports, the presentation of photographs and the writing of headlines. It is important that the groups involved are given ample opportunity to comment on such matters so as to balance the impact of any such report. When concerns with the accuracy of reports are brought to their attention, newspapers have an obligation to correct or clarify matters promptly and prominently.

In this case, The Advertiser failed to fulfil its obligations.