Daily Telegraph rapped for accusing welfare council of helping claimants to ‘con’ doctors
The Daily Telegraph has been rapped by The Press Council for implying the National Welfare Rights Network (NWRN) was involved in a system to “con” doctors into giving disability support to claimants.
The NWRN complained to the watchdog after the Telegraph ran a series of stories last September in print and online which claimed website forums were being used to share information on how to “bludge”.
The stories contained quotes from the websites and named the NWRN as one of four groups which ran forums where such information was being shared.
In a story headlined: “It’s so easy to fudge a bludge: Online guides used to con doctors into giving out disability support pensions”, the Telegraph also said the sites “provide form letters to slip to doctors”.
In its complaint, the NWRN said the organisation did not run a forum and that none of the quotes used by the News Corp title were taken from its website.
It also said the reference to “form letters” was false and misleading, arguing the letter is not designed to con but is a “neutrally worded document intended to assist claimants and their doctors in providing all relevant information needed by Centrelink to assess a claim”.
The Telegraph denied the article implied the NWRN letter was part of a con and said it was reporting on “concerns expressed by the federal government” on the opportunity for non-genuine claimants to use online resources to exploit the system.
It also said use of the word “forum” was intended to convey that the organisation provided a “forum” for people to access information. But it conceded none of the quotes were taken from the NWRN website.
The Press Council concluded the article “inaccurately and unfairly” depicted the role of the welfare body, with the use of the word “slip” reinforcing the implication that it was involved in dodgy practices. The Council added that using parts of a letter from the complainant in a follow-up story was not adequate remedial action.
However, the subsequent offer by the Telegraph of publishing the full letter in its letters section “did constitute the taking of reasonable steps under the Council’s standards”, despite NWRN claims the section was away from the news section “and not prominent enough”.
“[The Daily Telegraph] was not obliged to meet the complainant’s request for placement in the paper other than in the letters section,” the Press Council said. “Therefore the Council considers that there was no breach of its standards in this respect”.
Last week an investigation into the Daily Telegraph’s Sydney siege special edition was dropped by the Press Council.
Steve Jones
Was the Tele also rapped by the grammar police for using its instead of it’s in its headline?
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You don’t get to be the least trusted newspaper in the country year after year for nothing.
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