Adjudication No. 1462 (adjudicated July 2010) [2010] APC 12

Adjudication No. 1462 (adjudicated July 2010)

The Australian Press Council has considered a complaint by the Australian Macedonian Human Rights Committee (AMHRC) against Neos Kosmos (English edition), a newspaper in the Australian-Greek community, arising from an online article published on 27 October 2009 under the heading Gruevski makes claims in Sydney speech. The complaint focused on the opening paragraph that read:

The Prime Minister of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (fYROM), Nikola Gruevski has made irredentist claims against Greece and Bulgaria during a speech to the Skopjan community in Sydney.

The AMHRC took exception to the word "irredentist", complaining that it was a grotesque manipulation of the truth, and that Mr Gruevski did not make any claims in his speech upon any other nation's territory. Moreover, it complained about the word "Skopjan", describing it as "a pejorative term which indicates that ethnic Macedonians do not exist and that they constitute a community of culturally inferior people". The AMHRC was disappointed that the paper failed to accept responsibility for its actions in publishing the article and it requested appropriate corrections.

The paper responded by noting that the online article was taken directly from a wire service from Greece. It admitted that the article was not edited to meet its own policy on the naming of FYROM and people who come from FYROM or lay claim to that identity. On receipt of a letter from the AMHRC, it made immediate modifications to its online story to address the complaint, deleting the offending first paragraph with its "irredentist" claim and use of the term "Skopjan".

In its 2 November print edition, the paper published a revised and expanded article, starting with a report on a subsequent meeting between Mr Gruevski and the Greek Prime Minister before its report on the visit to Australian. The revised article referred to a meeting between Mr Gruevski and then Prime Minister Rudd and, like the revised online article, omitted the offending first paragraph of the original story.

The Council's principles require newspapers to have regard to the sensibilities of individuals in their reporting of news and of commentary on that news. In a diverse society like Australia, that includes trying to avoid publication of material that is likely to be grossly and unnecessarily offensive to particular communities.

The Council welcomes the prompt action of the newspaper in immediately removing from its online edition the opening paragraph of the original article and the subsequent omission of that paragraph from the article in the print edition. It also notes that Neos Kosmos (English edition) has taken steps to ensure that the matters raised in the AMHRC complaint are not repeated.

The AMHRC insisted that the paper should also publish a "retraction and apology", which would necessarily have drawn specific attention to the offensive material and its removal. The Council does not censure the paper for refusing this request, partly because the main effect of such an apology might be to inflame the situation on either or both sides of the dispute and also because of the paper's swift correction and action to prevent repetition. Similar publication in future, however, is likely to attract strong criticism from the Council.