Australian Press Council
Encyclopedia
The Australian Press Council (APC) is the self-regulatory body of the Australia
n print media. It was established in 1976 and is a private organisation. Its aims are to help preserve the traditional freedom of the press
within Australia and to ensure that the free press acts responsibly and ethically. In its attempts to preserve the freedom of the press, it keeps a watching brief on developments which might threaten such freedoms. Regulation of broadcast media in Australia is conducted by the Australian Communications and Media Authority
.
The APC was only established after the Federal Government began preparation of legislation to create a government authority to ensure accountability
in 1975. A long-term campaigner for the establishment of the Australian Press Council was George Godfrey
.
The Council is funded by the newspaper
and magazine
industries. It relies on publishers and editor
s to respect the Council's views, to adhere voluntarily to ethical standards and to public
ly admit mistakes. It has no legal or legislative power to discipline the press and has no ability to detect and act on breaches independently.
The effectiveness of the Council has been noted in that every adjudication
made against a mainstream newspaper or magazine has been prominently published by the offending publication.
over others in elections. At the same time, it is expected that newspapers be fair and balanced and to make opinion pieces distinguishable
On 2 August 2011, the APC released new suicide reporting guidelines. The standards stress the importance of the discussion of suicide may help to improve public understanding of the causes and warning signs of suicide and act a deterrent.
and is headed by an Executive Secretary.
The current chairman is Julian Disney. The inaugral chairman of the Australian Press Council was Frank Kitto
. He was followed by Geoffrey Sawer, Hal Wootten, David Flint
and Ken McKinnon
. The chairman has always been a judge or university professor. Former members include Michael Vernon
, Frank Moorhouse
and Adrian Deamer
.
, Kerry Packer
described the Council as "window dressing" at a 1991 parliamentary inquiry into the print media.
Former chair of the Council, Professor Dennis Pearce, told the Finkelstein Media Inquiry that the authority was overly influenced by concerns of losing its sponsors and that the industry was reluctant to fund its own watchdog. Another former chairman, Ken McKinnon
supported calls for the APC to have a stronger role and be better resourced, instead of statutory regulation. The Australian Greens
Senator Bob Brown
has described the APC as a "hollow vessel" and supports reform towards a statutory body with better funding.
The Australian Press Council wants to see its role expand into regulation of news and current affairs commentary across all platforms, including radio, television and internet including blog
s.
.
The APC accepts complaints magazines, newspapers or periodicals which are printed or published in Australia, regardless of whether or not that organisation is affiliated with the Council.
The Council regularly deals with complaints regarding racially offensive material against Aboriginals. In their 1996 Annual Report the Council reaffirmed its belief that although some editorial
s may give offence, newspapers have a right to express forthright opinions.
In 1979, during the run-up to the South Australian state election
, the Murdoch
owned The News
campaigned against the Australian Labor Party
in South Australia. A successful complaint was heard by the APC which News Limited
representatives alleged contained irregular procedures, leading the News to withdraw from the Council.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n print media. It was established in 1976 and is a private organisation. Its aims are to help preserve the traditional freedom of the press
Freedom of the press
Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the freedom of communication and expression through vehicles including various electronic media and published materials...
within Australia and to ensure that the free press acts responsibly and ethically. In its attempts to preserve the freedom of the press, it keeps a watching brief on developments which might threaten such freedoms. Regulation of broadcast media in Australia is conducted by the Australian Communications and Media Authority
Australian Communications and Media Authority
The Australian Communications and Media Authority is an Australian government statutory authority within the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy portfolio...
.
The APC was only established after the Federal Government began preparation of legislation to create a government authority to ensure accountability
Accountability
Accountability is a concept in ethics and governance with several meanings. It is often used synonymously with such concepts as responsibility, answerability, blameworthiness, liability, and other terms associated with the expectation of account-giving...
in 1975. A long-term campaigner for the establishment of the Australian Press Council was George Godfrey
George Godfrey (journalist)
George Fuller Godfrey CBE was an English-born Australian journalist and trade unionist.Godfrey was born in Battersea in London to schoolteacher Francis George Godfrey and Millie, née Fuller...
.
The Council is funded by the newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
and magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
industries. It relies on publishers and editor
Editor in chief
An editor-in-chief is a publication's primary editor, having final responsibility for the operations and policies. Additionally, the editor-in-chief is held accountable for delegating tasks to staff members as well as keeping up with the time it takes them to complete their task...
s to respect the Council's views, to adhere voluntarily to ethical standards and to public
Public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individuals, and the public is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the Öffentlichkeit or public sphere. The concept of a public has also been defined in political science,...
ly admit mistakes. It has no legal or legislative power to discipline the press and has no ability to detect and act on breaches independently.
The effectiveness of the Council has been noted in that every adjudication
Adjudication
Adjudication is the legal process by which an arbiter or judge reviews evidence and argumentation including legal reasoning set forth by opposing parties or litigants to come to a decision which determines rights and obligations between the parties involved....
made against a mainstream newspaper or magazine has been prominently published by the offending publication.
Positions
The APC takes the position that a newspaper to take sides on an issue, including favouring one political partyPolitical party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
over others in elections. At the same time, it is expected that newspapers be fair and balanced and to make opinion pieces distinguishable
On 2 August 2011, the APC released new suicide reporting guidelines. The standards stress the importance of the discussion of suicide may help to improve public understanding of the causes and warning signs of suicide and act a deterrent.
Members
The Council consists of 15 members, representing the publishers, journalists, members of the public and is chaired by an independent Chairman. It meets monthly, in SydneySydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
and is headed by an Executive Secretary.
The current chairman is Julian Disney. The inaugral chairman of the Australian Press Council was Frank Kitto
Frank Kitto
Sir Frank Walters Kitto, AC, KBE, QC , Australian judge, was a Justice of the High Court of Australia.Kitto was born in Melbourne in 1903, but his family moved to Sydney, when his father James Kitto became the Deputy Director of Posts and Telegraphs in New South Wales. There he was educated at...
. He was followed by Geoffrey Sawer, Hal Wootten, David Flint
David Flint
Professor David Flint, AM, LLM , BSc , DSU is an Australian legal academic, known for his leadership of Australians for Constitutional Monarchy and for his tenure as head of the Australian Broadcasting Authority.-Background:...
and Ken McKinnon
Ken McKinnon
Ken McKinnon was the second vice-chancellor of the University of Wollongong between 1981 - 1994. He also served as interim vice-chancellor of James Cook University in 1997 and Charles Darwin University from 2002 to 2003, where he was responsible for the name change from Northern Territory University...
. The chairman has always been a judge or university professor. Former members include Michael Vernon
Michael Vernon
Michael 'Mike' Vernon A.M. was a prominent Australian consumer activist. Vernon was born in Portsmouth, United Kingdom in 1932 to John Ernest Vernon and Caroline Vernon . He emigrated to Australia in 1955 and settled in Canberra, Australia...
, Frank Moorhouse
Frank Moorhouse
Frank Moorhouse is an acclaimed Australian writer with a growing international reputation. He has won major Australian national prizes for the short story, the novel, the essay, and for script writing....
and Adrian Deamer
Adrian Deamer
Adrian Milford Deamer was an Australian journalist, newspaper editor and lawyer. Deamer died of cancer on 16 January 2000....
.
Reform
It has been criticised for being unwilling to censor its members in anything more than a minor manner when guidelines are breached by its members. The chairman of Australian Consolidated PressAustralian Consolidated Press
ACP Magazines , a subsidiary of the Nine Entertainment Co., is an Australian media company. It publishes the Australian Women's Weekly and the Australian edition of Woman's Day....
, Kerry Packer
Kerry Packer
Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer, AC was an Australian media tycoon. The son of Sir Frank Packer and Gretel Bullmore, the Packer family company owned controlling interest in both the Nine television network and leading Australian publishing company Australian Consolidated Press, which were later...
described the Council as "window dressing" at a 1991 parliamentary inquiry into the print media.
Former chair of the Council, Professor Dennis Pearce, told the Finkelstein Media Inquiry that the authority was overly influenced by concerns of losing its sponsors and that the industry was reluctant to fund its own watchdog. Another former chairman, Ken McKinnon
Ken McKinnon
Ken McKinnon was the second vice-chancellor of the University of Wollongong between 1981 - 1994. He also served as interim vice-chancellor of James Cook University in 1997 and Charles Darwin University from 2002 to 2003, where he was responsible for the name change from Northern Territory University...
supported calls for the APC to have a stronger role and be better resourced, instead of statutory regulation. The Australian Greens
Australian Greens
The Australian Greens, commonly known as The Greens, is an Australian green political party.The party was formed in 1992; however, its origins can be traced to the early environmental movement in Australia and the formation of the United Tasmania Group , the first Green party in the world, which...
Senator Bob Brown
Bob Brown
Robert James Brown is an Australian senator, the inaugural Parliamentary Leader of the Australian Greens and was the first openly gay member of the Parliament of Australia...
has described the APC as a "hollow vessel" and supports reform towards a statutory body with better funding.
The Australian Press Council wants to see its role expand into regulation of news and current affairs commentary across all platforms, including radio, television and internet including blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
s.
Complaints
To carry out its latter function, it serves as a forum to which the public may take a complaint concerning the press. Complaints are dealt with by a Complaints Committee which conducts hearings on complaints through a procedure which is free and accessible. Rulings can be subject to appealAppeal
An appeal is a petition for review of a case that has been decided by a court of law. The petition is made to a higher court for the purpose of overturning the lower court's decision....
.
The APC accepts complaints magazines, newspapers or periodicals which are printed or published in Australia, regardless of whether or not that organisation is affiliated with the Council.
The Council regularly deals with complaints regarding racially offensive material against Aboriginals. In their 1996 Annual Report the Council reaffirmed its belief that although some editorial
Editorial
An opinion piece is an article, published in a newspaper or magazine, that mainly reflects the author's opinion about the subject. Opinion pieces are featured in many periodicals.-Editorials:...
s may give offence, newspapers have a right to express forthright opinions.
In 1979, during the run-up to the South Australian state election
South Australian state election, 1979
State elections were held in Australia on 15 September 1979. All 47 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Australian Labor Party led by Premier of South Australia Des Corcoran was defeated by the Liberal Party of Australia led by Leader of the...
, the Murdoch
Rupert Murdoch
Keith Rupert Murdoch, AC, KSG is an Australian-American business magnate. He is the founder and Chairman and CEO of , the world's second-largest media conglomerate....
owned The News
The News (Adelaide)
The News was an afternoon daily tabloid newspaper in the city of Adelaide, South Australia.The newspaper was established in 1869 as the Evening Journal. In 1933, a controlling stake was taken by The Advertiser, controlled by the Herald and Weekly Times. HWT sold off The News in 1949, and Sir Keith...
campaigned against the Australian Labor Party
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
in South Australia. A successful complaint was heard by the APC which News Limited
News Limited
News Limited is one of Australia's largest diversified media companies. The publicly listed company's interests span newspaper and magazine publishing, Internet, Pay TV, National Rugby League, market research, DVD and film distribution, and film and television production trading assets.News Limited...
representatives alleged contained irregular procedures, leading the News to withdraw from the Council.