Adjudication No. 1413 (adjudicated December 2008) [2008] APC 34

Adjudication No. 1413 (adjudicated December 2008)

The Australian Press Council has upheld a complaint lodged by a family friend of an 18-year-old woman whose photograph, and comments about drinking and behaving like a "ladette", were published on the front page of The Sunday Age.

The complaint revolved around the issue of informed consent. The Press Council believes this is an important issue for publications to consider, particularly when a story or image involves young people and alcohol.

The young woman was interviewed, and was posed with friends for photographs, while drinking at a Melbourne campus bar. The complainant said the woman was inebriated on the night, and could not have given informed consent for the newspaper to publish her comments and picture. He said the woman's privacy had been unfairly invaded and the article had portrayed the woman and her friends in an unflattering light.

The newspaper said the editor discussed with the freelance reporter and photographer the issues of consent and privacy of the young women in the article. They stood by their belief that she had knowingly consented to the interview, and she told the paper her name, age, occupation and home suburb.

The Council accepted a statement from the young woman, admitting that she has been drinking heavily before she met with the journalists. Given her condition, the woman was not capable of consenting in an informed way to participating in the posed photo session. For that reason, the coverage, despite the journalists' belief they had informed consent, was unfair to the woman.