Australian Press Council finds The Australian article likely to cause ‘substantial offence’
The Australian Press Council (APC) has partially upheld a complaint from ABC Four Corners’ reporter Louise Milligan against an editorial in The Australian, finding the article was likely to cause “substantial offence and distress.”
The piece in question, titled ‘Greatest enemy of truth is those who conspire to lie‘, was published two years ago under ‘commentary’ in The Australian without a by-line.
Louise Milligan
It adopted a critical tone towards the ABC, stating: “Many at the ABC express their displeasure at being held to account by The Australian.
“Forget that their own Media Watch has a leery obsession with News Corporation, some less thoughtful ABC journalists, and their flacks, one-time reporters who seem to have forgotten where they came from, decry any form of scrutiny.”
Milligan and her former boss at the ABC, Sally Neighbour, were named in a context that the APC said was about “the ABC and what [the article] considers are the attributes of poor journalism.” Hence, the piece was ruled to be “likely to cause substantial offence and distress without a sufficient public interest justification”.
The APC’s findings also stated: “Although the Council notes the publication’s comments that the editorial was not directed at the complainant, it considers that it is an unavoidable conclusion that she is associated with “bad, lazy, deceitful journalism” and that she ‘lies’ and ‘dissembles’ on the basis that she is specifically named in the article; that she is an ABC journalist; that she was once employed at The Australian and the critical comments concerning her alleged work, habits and hubris.
“For this reason, the Council considers the editorial, misleadingly and unfairly infers that such undesirable traits are associated with the complainant and her journalism.”
In a post on LinkedIn, Milligan thanked both her colleagues at the ABC and former colleagues at The Australian for their support.
“People who worked with us over decades and knew us not to be as described in that editorial were angry. And crucially, they included many former colleagues from The Australian itself,” she wrote.
“This process has been wearying and took two years. It was my decision alone to do it. I can’t imagine how much more difficult it would be for an ordinary, vulnerable, member of the public.
“It has demonstrated to me the Press Council needs proper public funding, unshackled from the publications it is adjudicating.”
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Darcy Song was a reporter at Mumbrella, covering media owners, adtech and social platforms. She left in October 2023.
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