A news.com.au article relating to a ‘clash’ between ‘yes’ and ‘no’ same-sex marriage voters has been condemned by the press watchdog, as it was reliant on the account of one witness and the reporter had based their story on footage from a television report.
The article in question – ‘Marriage equality supporters clash with churchgoers in Brisbane protest’ – was published on September 8, and reported an incident outside a Brisbane church. It claimed protestors, who were outside the church, were ‘attacked with cars’ as they met to oppose a “homophobic forum”.
News.com.au reported the account of a single protestor, that was treated by paramedics
News.com.au’s account reported one woman, who was treated by paramedics, said she was injured because “people drove their cars nearly at full spend into the yes campaigners”.
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The article also noted no arrests were made, and spoke more broadly about the ‘national postal vote’.
News Corp’s digital site argued the reference to ‘clash’ in the headline was appropriate and said that use of the word did not require or necessarily imply violence.
It argued the comments about cars being used to attack people were just claims, suggesting it had made these allegations clear in the sub-heading, “same-sex marriage supporters claim cars were used as weapons in the first violent clash between ‘yes’ and ‘no’ campaigners ahead of the postal vote.”
News.com.au argued the article was based on witness accounts and footage from the protest, as well as information from the police and ambulance services.
The Press Council said the combined use of the words “clash”, “cars were used as weapons” and the statement “quickly deteriorated into a violent clash” amounted to statements of fact, rather than claims.
It said the article relied on baseless claims from one demonstrator and contained no material supporting the claim the clash was violent.
Although the reporter did make inquiries, the watchdog noted the reporter wasn’t at the scene and had based the coverage of the protest on footage from a television station broadcast.
The Council said in reporting a ‘violent’ clash, it had not taken reasonable steps to ensure the material was accurate and not misleading. The Council also said there was no attempt to test the reliability of the claims from the quoted demonstrator, despite the serious allegation.
Given there was no commentary from police or other supporting statements, including no comment from the church, the Council said the article had not taken the right steps to ensure fairness and balance.