The Council considered a complaint about a report in The Australian online on 19 June 2012 headed "Europe won't be 'lectured' by Julia Gillard, EC chief Jose Manuel Barroso has said". The report was based on public comments by Mr Barroso at a press conference and earlier comments by his spokesperson which were emailed to The Australian in response to an inquiry said by it to have been specifically about Ms Gillard.
The complainant, Nick Green, said that the article was inaccurate and unfair because the President’s comments at the press conference were not directed explicitly or implicitly at Ms Gillard. He based this assertion on a transcript of the relevant part of Mr Barroso’s press conference and pointed out that neither Australia nor Ms Gillard were mentioned in it, by contrast with the US and Canada.
The newspaper said its journalist had been at the summit and the initial version of the article was based on the response to his emailed questions to the President’s spokesperson. The later version, which was the subject of this complaint, added at the beginning a report of the President’s comments at the press conference and included the word ‘lectured’ in the headline and “lectured” in the second sentence. The newspaper said to the Council that the press conference comments were made publicly and generally by the President after specifically referring to Ms Gillard in his earlier response to its inquiry about her.
The headline of the article put ‘lectured’ in single inverted commas, which is often used by newspapers to imply a paraphrase rather than a quotation. This usage is by no means standard, however, and in this case the addition of the words “has said” in the headline was likely to be read by many readers as indicating that Mr Barroso actually used the word “lectured” at the conference and did so explicitly in relation to Ms Gillard. In addition, the use of the word “lectured” in double inverted commas in the second sentence of the article clearly claimed that it was a direct quote from Mr Barroso at the press conference.
The transcript of the press conference shows that although Mr Barroso said the EU was “certainly not coming here to receive lessons from nobody” he did not use the word “lectured” and did not make any mention of Ms Gillard or Australia. The Council has frequently emphasised the importance of strict accuracy in the use of quotations. Accordingly, the complaint about these aspects of the headline and article is upheld. There is no evidence of any other inaccuracy or unfairness which would constitute a breach of the Council’s principles.
Supplementary notes
(not required for publication by the newspaper):
As mentioned in the adjudication, the use of single inverted commas can cause confusion as to whether it signifies a direct quotation or a paraphrase. If used to signify a paraphrase, there may be confusion about whether it is a paraphrase of the view of a particular person or of the newspaper itself. Media practice in this respect is not consistent and the Council will consider whether to develop Specific Standards or take some other initiatives in this area.
Relevant Council Standards
(not required for publication by the newspaper):
This adjudication applies the Council’s General Principle 1: “Publications should take reasonable steps to ensure reports are accurate, fair and balanced.”