Adjudication No. 1367 (adjudicated September 2007) [2007] APC 24

Adjudication No. 1367 (adjudicated September 2007)

The Australian Press Council has upheld a complaint about articles published in The West Australian in January 2007. The first contained factual errors, which were not properly corrected in a subsequent article and editorial.

The newspaper published a front-page photograph and a page 5 article on 24 January about a patient in a Perth hospital lying across three chairs in the emergency ward, attributing resource deficiencies to the WA Minister for Health, Jim McGinty, and the Health Department. The complainants in this case were the Minister and the Chief Executive of the Department's North Metropolitan Area Health Service.

The newspaper reported that the picture showed a frail, elderly woman understood to be suffering from a neurological condition who has spent "several hours" lying across three chairs in a Perth hospital's emergency department. Overlaid on the picture was the heading: How would you feel if this was your grandmother, Jim? The photograph had been taken by an individual at the hospital and posted to the hospital's Intranet.

In a letter written to the editor on the same day, the patient pointed out that she was not a grandmother, not frail, and not suffering from a neurological condition. The West Australian chose not to publish this letter but only to quote a paragraph in a follow-up article (25 January 2007) and to interpret the letter not as a letter to the editor but as one issued by the hospital's public relations department. On the same day as she wrote the letter, the patient also said publicly that she had spent only 10-15 minutes lying across the chairs. The newspaper went on to assert in an editorial (26 January 2007) that the errors of detail 'were immaterial to the issue'.

The complainants stated that The West Australian wrongly reported the facts about the patient; that it did not tells its readers it had cropped the photograph, the original of which included a nurse at a desk near the patient; and that it neither sought balancing comment from the hospital nor did it properly apologise to the patient or the hospital for its errors.

The newspaper argued that the cropping of the photograph was standard practice. It said that it could not seek balancing comment from the hospital in order to protect its confidential source. Its coverage of the incident, despite errors, was clearly in the public interest.

In the Press Council's view, the newspaper's failure to take reasonable steps to check the accuracy of what was reported, or seek balancing comment, and instead to rely on an unsourced photograph, were breaches of the Press Council's principles. This was made worse by the lack of proper amends for publishing what turned out to be inaccurate information. Ultimately the newspaper's actions compromised its legitimate attempt to air a matter of obvious public concern.

Note: At its October meeting, the Council's Complaints Committee considered an appeal from The West Australian against the finding. This appeal was unanimously rejected by the committee.