Herald Sun and Advertiser fall foul of press watchdog most often so far in 2012
Two News Limited titles – the Herald Sun in Victoria and The Advertiser in SA – had the most complaints upheld against them during the first half of 2012, analysis of published rulings from the Australian Press Council suggests.
Both titles has three complaints upheld by the APC.
News Limited’s NSW masthead the Telegraph also had three findings against it – although that was split across two for the Daily Telegraph and one for the Sunday Telegraph.
In total, the APC has published 16 adverse findings against publications so far this year. Of those, 11 were News Limited titles, three were Fairfax Media and two were independent. The proportion of complaints broadly reflects the percentage ownership of the two media groups.
The most recent findings from the APC last month included against The Herald Sun, The Advertiser and Fairfax’s Melbourne Weekly.
The APC ruled that The Herald Sun had misrepresented a councillor who had made a comment about women in politics.
The watchdog ruled that The Advertiser had lacked balance in its coverage of the death of a woman who had been accused and cleared of murder.
And it said that The Melbourne Weekly was guilty of unbalanced reporting on a legal battle between tenants.