Press Council rules against The Age in article about Greens’ leader Richard Di Natale

January 19, 2017 10:36

The Press Council has ruled The Age “failed to take reasonable steps” to ensure an article which claimed Greens’ leader Richard Di Natale paid his au pair a low wage was actually accurate.

The article, which originally appeared online on May 19 last year under the headline ‘Election 2016: Greens leader Richard Di Natale fails to declare home, pays au pair low wage’, and in print the next day under a different headline claimed: “Senator Di Natale has paid three au pairs to help with his family as little as $150 a week after tax, or $3.75 an hour – based on a standard 40-hour week”.

The Press Council concluded that before the article was published, Di Natale “had told the publication the au pairs worked 25 hours per week, he had made the employment arrangements in accordance with advice he received, and offered to provide documents relating to that advice”.

The Press Council noted that although it took five days for The Age’s request for documents to be partially met – by the time the article was published “the publication had no evidence to contradict the initial information provided by the Senator’s office”.

“There was no reasonable basis for the publication to imply the au pairs may have worked a 40-hour week and, on this basis, may have been paid ‘as little as $150 a week after tax’,” the adjudication said.

In addition, the judgment noted The Age “could have contacted the au pairs to establish the nature of the employment arrangement but did not attempt to do so”.

The Press Council concluded The Age had breached General Principles 1 and 3 for failing to take reasonable steps to ensure the article was “accurate and not misleading, and fair and balanced”.

In the absence of a complaint from Di Natale himself, The Press Council did not rule on breaches of General Principles 2 and 4.

The Press Council’s General Principles 1, 2, 3 and 4 are:

Accuracy and clarity

Ensure that factual material in news reports and elsewhere is accurate and not misleading, and is distinguishable from other material such as opinion.
Provide a correction or other adequate remedial action if published material is significantly inaccurate or misleading.

Fairness and balance

Ensure that factual material is presented with reasonable fairness and balance, and that writers’ expressions of opinion are not based on significantly inaccurate factual material or omission of key facts.
Ensure that where material refers adversely to a person, a fair opportunity is given for subsequent publication of a reply if that is reasonably necessary to address a possible breach of General Principle 3.