The Press Council gives The Courier-Mail a slap on the wrist for ‘greenies’ story
A story run by The Courier-Mail titled ‘Mega-mine’s future in hands of greenies’ failed to present the story with reasonable fairness and balance, but the title did take appropriate steps to rectify the problem, according to The Press Council.
The story, printed on 21 January 2019, centred around a report that Queensland’s Carmichael mine’s fate was being decided by the Threatened Species Recovery Hub, who were involved in an environmental management review for the Adani project.
However, the information, which had been provided to The Courier-Mail by the Queensland state government, was false and led to the Hub registering a complaint.
The article discussed the Hub’s alleged inability to be fair and unbiased in the review of the Adani project due to its anti-coal bias and focus on biodiversity. The article included the names of the panel and chair and examples of their environmental activities.
In the complaint, the Hub said the article’s statement that it had been “hand-picked by the Palaszczuk government to review one of the [Carmichael] mine’s environmental management plans” was inaccurate because the Hub was in fact not conducting the review. Of the seven people named in the article only one was involved in the review. As the incorrect information was provided by the government, and a subsequent correction had been printed, the Hub was satisfied that the publication had taken all steps to fix the error.
However, the Hub also took offence to the use of the terms ‘anti-coal group’, ‘greenies’ and ‘environmental group’, saying they were both misleading and also damaging to the Hub’s reputation. The Hub is a group of more than 150 research scientists from the CSIRO, Australian Universities and various non-government organisations, which it said was not reflected in the terms used by The Courier-Mail. The Hub also said the allegation that it was unable to conduct an independent review was inaccurate.
The Hub said it was not contacted by The Courier-Mail before publication and therefore could not respond to the article. This was partially rectified by the printing of an opinion piece by the deputy director of the Hub, but the author wasn’t able to respond fully in the piece.
In turn, The Courier-Mail said it was provided incorrect information by the Queensland government, which was later corrected in both a printed and online correction. It also said the Hub did not request the publication of an opinion piece which would respond more generally to the claim.
The publication also queried the term ‘environmental group’ which it claimed was an accurate way to address the Hub. It pointed to pictures on a Hub member’s social media account which showed the member’s children taking part in an anti-coal rally as proof of the ‘anti-coal’ title which was applied to the Hub in the article.
The Press Councils Standards of Practice require factual material to be accurate and not misleading, be presented with reasonable fairness and balance, and if either of these are breached, to be remedied accurately.
In this case, the Council accepted that while the information provided by the government was incorrect, The Courier-Mail did not take appropriate steps to prove the Hub was ‘anti-coal’ as claimed in the title. The title also didn’t take appropriate steps to prove that the suggestion that the Hub was ‘incapable of carrying out a review’ was factual, ruled the Council.
However, steps were taken to rectify the issue, and the Council was satisfied with these. It provided a right of reply in the form of the opinion piece, and published both a print and digital correction.
As such, the Council ruled that going forward The Courier-Mail should be sure to take steps to ensure the material it publishes is accurate and not misleading, and presented with fairness and balance. The title should also be sure that writers’ expressions of opinion are not based on inaccurate factual material or the omission of key facts.
“…the Council ruled that going forward The Courier-Mail should be sure to take steps to ensure the material it publishes is accurate and not misleading, and presented with fairness and balance.”
Tell ’em they’re dreaming.
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