Telegraph lashes Press Council and journo after ruling it breached code with Slipper coverage
The Telegraph’s exclusive revealing the allegations.
Sydney tabloid The Daily Telegraph has been held in breach by the Australian Press Council (APC) code over its coverage of the former Speaker of the House of Representatives Peter Slipper and allegations of sexual harassment against a staffer, which were later thrown out of court.
The APC ruling, published today, upheld a complaint by freelance journalist Margo Kingston that a report on page 17 of the paper on December 13, 2012 did not give sufficient prominence to a Federal Court decision to dismiss allegations Slipper had harassed a then member of his staff James Ashby.
The decision compared the front page treatment of Slipper when the allegations were first aired in April 2012 with the later treatment which saw the Telegraph publish in the words of the APC: “A very much less prominent report of the dismissal on page 17 of an edition eight months later.”
Today’s print edition of the Telegraph carries an editorial slamming the APC decision as undermining “the principles of free speech”. It goes on to criticise Kingston’s decision to lodge a complaint arguing it was not based on the need to correct a factual error but rather was “simply based on her contention… that the follow-up report on the Federal Court’s decision was positioned in a part of the newspaper that was not to her liking. “
Speaking to Mumbrella this morning Kingston rejected this claim, adding: “The report concerned the Federal Court’s dismissal of legal proceedings by James Ashby against Peter Slipper MP as being an ‘abuse of process’ which was pursued for political purpose.
“On the day (of the Slipper decision) there was a fair bit of comment wondering where the Telegraph’s report was.”
The Telegraph’s Page 17 report.
The Telegraph’s editorial also derides the APC decision as “an unwarranted interference in the editing and production process; showcasing the Council’s apparent eagerness to determine where and how an independent press publishes articles.”
Kingston, a former journalist with The Sydney Morning Herald and now publisher of independent news website nofibs.com.au, said that prominence was an editor’s prerogative, but only within reason.
“Prominence is clearly where the editor has a wide scope”, said Kingston. “I’m not saying where it should be, all I’m saying is that page 17 is so far over the line that it is in breach.
“My argument is pretty simple: the Telegraph itself has voluntarily committed to fairness and balance. In this case it means they need to be fair to Slipper and they need to be balanced to readers.
“On balance, their readers had it shoved down their throat that Peter Slipper sexually harassed James Ashby, they also had it shoved down their throats that his 2012 travel entitlements were abused. The court case found that Slipper did not harass James Ashby, that it was an abuse of process and that the travel claims were dumped before they went to court. If you are serious about balance and fairness surely you take your coverage into account.”
*Kingston also questioned the Telegraph’s unusual decision to publish her photograph in the editorial. “To my mind, I wouldn’t say I wasn’t expecting it but to put that picture of me is a warning to me,” she said.
In May of 2013 the APC cleared the Telegraph over a controversial front page which depicted former Speaker Peter Slipper as a giant rat.
*Update: a previous version of this story quoted Kingston alleging that Julian Disney had spoken before a Senate Inquiry and had said that News Corp had intimidated people who were now too afraid to complain. Disney’s full testimony to the Senate Committee can be read here and does not link News Corp and intimidation of potential complainants.
Nic Christensen
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Margo Kingston is spot on.
It was a disgraceful campaign by The Terrorist and its owners News Corpse.
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A joke newspaper read by the dumbest people in our society.
Being a Daily Telegraph should preclude you from being allowed to vote (or operate any sort of machinery.)
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The famous News glass jaw in evidence yet again..
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They can dish it out but they can’t take it….
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They’re not so worried about ‘principles of free speech’ when it comes to their mate Morrison.
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Incredible. News Corp CANNOT handle criticism. The only tool the public has at its disposal is the toothless Press Council, and even that’s too much for Tele editor Paul Whittaker. Man up
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This from the same privateers who cry foul at the ABC’s alleged unbalanced coverage and want them gagged for showing up Uncle Rupert’s dancing bear Abbott. Obviously denial ain’t just that blue line on a map of Egypt.
As stated by a previous poster the Tele is read by our lowest IQ as well as the mentally unhinged, and its writing is at a year 9 reading level. Unfortunately for us all there seems to be an ever growing number that fit into this category.
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“Ruling and insult to press freedoms”???
The ruling is an insult to blatant politically biased editorialising. The only insult is to the readers of newspapers, and those who believe that the media should be a force for democracy by providing objective information and commentary. So clearly backing one side is an abrogation of all journalism stands for.
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