Press Council releases guidelines for reporting on people with diverse sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics
The Australian Press Council has released guidelines for editors and journalists reporting on people with diverse sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics.
Last month, the Council ruled that The Daily Telegraph breached its standards for an article on Evie Amati, a transgender woman spending at least eight years in jail after attacking three strangers with an axe in a Sydney convenience store in 2017. The Council received complaints on the prominence the article gave to Amati’s transgender status and prejudicial references including: “having been chopped herself”, “a “tranny” and a “previous he”. The story also made references to her former name, “Karl”.
Also last month, the Press Council decided that News.com.au did not breach those standards in an article called ‘Freak of Nature’: The child killer the world has forgotten’ which addressed details about the sexuality of Robert Thompson, who was convicted of murdering two-year-old James Bulger in 1993.
While the guidelines are not binding like the Council’s General Principles, they provide guidance on how to report on people with diverse sexual orientation, gender identity and sex characteristics and the issues which affect them.
The Council noted these stories can often include “sensitive factors” and it understands “that unfair or inaccurate reporting about these individuals can have serious adverse mental health outcomes for them”. It recognised the importance of freedom of speech, but said “with these freedoms come important responsibilities for the media”.
The guidelines include allowing a person to identify themselves with a word (such as queer), pronoun and/or name, asking for consent if using a trans person’s former name or photo of themselves before they transitioned, and considering the ramifications of outing someone without their consent, which can put people at risk.
The guidelines are the result of 12 months’ research and consultation with editors, journalists, community and health organisations, mental health specialists, people with lived experience, police, and academics.
The Press Council, which is the principal body for responding to complaints about newspapers, magazines and digital outlets, also conducted roundtables in Sydney and Melbourne, and a number of individual consultations.
Other reporting guidelines are available from the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), Transgender Europe, GLAAD, the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission, ACON and Intersex Human Rights.
Brittney Rigby was Mumbrella's deputy managing editor - news and analysis. She left Mumbrella in April 2021.
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