Adjudication No. 1402 (adjudicated August 2008) [2008] APC 23

Adjudication No. 1402 (adjudicated August 2008)

The Australian Press Council has dismissed a complaint that The Courier, Mount Barker, SA, published a photograph without the permission of its owner, Kevin Williams, a local birdwatcher.

The photograph was published on 14 May 2008, to illustrate an article titled Council confounded by bird problem, which detailed how a flock of native water fowl was thwarting the local council's attempt to grow duckweed over its effluent ponds to control odour and improve wastewater treatment. The Eurasian coots were eating the duckweed faster than the Mount Barker Council could grow it.

After failing in a variety of attempts to discourage the coots, the council brought in contractors to scare them into flight by firing starter pistol and shotgun blanks and then harassing them with falcons and eagles.

Mr Williams claimed this action was inappropriate, and resulted in all the water fowl in the wetlands being distressed. After finding the body of a shot coot, Mr Williams e-mailed two photos to The Courier - one of the dead bird and another of a man holding a shotgun at the water's edge.

He said he provided the photos on the understanding that the newspaper could use the photo of the dead bird, but not of the man holding the gun. He said this was to prevent unwanted repercussions should anyone draw the inference that the man with the gun had shot the bird, and to protect the man's privacy.

Mr Williams also alleged that the newspaper led him to believe it would print a story he wrote that condemned the Mount Barker Council's bird control tactics and accused it of compromising wildlife protection laws. He said the use of his photo without his consent, and the accompanying article written by a staff reporter, promoted the council's agenda and covered up what was really happening at the lagoons.

The Courier's editor said Mr Williams' instruction to his reporter was that the picture of the man with the gun could not be used "if" the picture of the dead coot was also used. The editor added that he believed he had satisfied Mr Williams' concerns about unwanted repercussions by printing the photo of the gunman to illustrate the council's latest strategy in bird control, with a caption stating he was armed with blanks.

The Press Council finds that The Courier's article was informative and well-balanced in that it carried the views of the Mount Barker Council, Mr Williams and the Department of Environment and Heritage. There is no way of knowing whether Mr Williams' recollection of the proviso about the picture or the reporter's is the more accurate.