Australian Press Council response to complaint regarding The Australian Letters to the Editor 19 June 2014

From: Name supplied but withheld
Date: 5/01/2015 11:13:19 AM
To: The Daily Magnet
Subject: RE: The Australian
 
Dear Ms Magnet,
RE: The Australian, “Islamists feel entitled to impose their beliefs”, 19 June 2014
I write in relation to your emails to the Press Council in relation to the aforementioned item.
Please excuse the great delay in responding to you as the Press Council has transitioned between Executive Directors and revised Standards of Practice.
As you were not personally identified or directly affected by the article, the matter was treated as a secondary matter: http://www.presscouncil.org.au/reception-of-complaints/.
In your email, you expressed concern the letters, “worsened by the adjacent cartoon by Bill Leak”, “lacked balancing points of view” to one that is “anti-Muslim, culturally ignorant and exacerbates… divisions in our society”.
We notified the publication in relation to two points in relation to then applicable General Principle 6: http://www.presscouncil.org.au/uploads/52321/ufiles/Fact_Sheet_prior_to_August_2014_-_General_Statement_of_Principles.pdf.
This pertained to first, whether the letters, a response to the previous day’s article “Today’s catastrophe springs from Saddam’s ousting”, were fairly presented; and second, whether the headline fairly reflects the tenor of the letters.
The publication responded that the letters page is a reflection of reader opinion, and that the headline is a fair reflection of the letters, highlighting the most interesting, contentious or provocative of the themes considered by letter writers.
Having reviewed the matter in accordance with the Council’s Standards of Practice, including the publication’s response and the impracticalities of ascertaining any given selection as opposed to presentation of letters, the Executive Director has considered the matter inappropriate for further referral, for instance, to the Council’s Adjudication Panel.
However, we nonetheless relayed your concerns to the publication, reminding it of the Press Council’s Advisory Guideline: Religious terms in headlines, which refers to religious and cultural sensitivities towards minorities. We also advised the publication that while the Press Council’s Standards of Practice have themselves been revised, this matter raises an issue which, if arises in future, may require further consideration. 
Please note that should you wish to submit a complaint to the Press Council in future, this is initiated by the submission of a Complaint Form at the following address: http://www.presscouncil.org.au/complaint-form/.
For more information, please visit: http://www.presscouncil.org.au/reception-of-complaints/.
Thank you for your interest in media standards and for your patience.
Yours Sincerely,
| Complaints and Compliance
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Australian Press Council
Level 6, 309 Kent Street
GPO Box 3343
Sydney NSW 2000
T    02 9261 1930
F    02 9267 6826

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