Press Council rules against News.com.au ‘how to pick a paedophile’ article
Media watchdog The Australian Press Council (APC) has ruled an article published on News.com.au last September entitled “Could you spot a paedophile? Here’s a guide on how to pick a child molester” misrepresented facts and breached principles requiring publications to balance the public interest with the sensitivities of readers.
The article, by journalist Candace Sutton, presented nine categories of sex offenders, with information about each and photographs of well-known offenders.
The APC found it was a breach of its rules with one section called “the damaged”, which alleged paedophiles are often the victims of child molestation themselves, was “deeply offensive and served to marginalise victims of child sex abuse and discourage them from speaking out”.
The APC found “the level of offence (caused by the article) would not only be very high, but it would be widespread throughout the community”. At the time it was published there was much online commentary about the article and News.com.au later published a response from Dr Cathy Kezelman, president of Adults Surviving Child Abuse.
It also ruled that News.com.au had not justified some of the claims in the piece: “The publication’s acknowledgement that evidence of a significant number of perpetrators being victims does not establish the frequency of victims becoming perpetrators.”
News Corp Australia, which publishes News.com.au, declined to comment on the ruling as did then editor Luke McIlveen and Candace Sutton who have both since moved to the new Mail Online operation.
According the APC ruling there were multiple complaints claiming the article had “misrepresented the incidence of victims becoming perpetrators as research on the issue does not support the claim that a high proportion of victims of child abuse go on to become paedophiles or child abusers.”
The article has now been amended online to note it has had a complaint upheld against it, and linking to the verdict.
Nic Christensen
