The Press Council considered whether its Standards of Practice were breached by an article published by The Australian online on 28 March 2023, headed "Trans female kills 3 children, 3 staff at Nashville Covenant School” which linked to a homepage headline “Trans woman kills 3 children, 3 staff at US school”.
The article reported that “The attack on a Nashville primary school that left three children and three staff members dead was meticulously planned by the female suspect, according to local police. The transgender attacker, identified by police as Audrey Hale, 28, left a manifesto and a map in her home before heading to the private Covenant School to carry out the mass shooting”. The article reported that “Police chief Don Drake told reporters that police searched the home of the suspect, who was killed by police at the school, and found evidence of a targeted attack.” It also included an embedded video from a television interview recording the Police Chief saying, “she does identify as transgender”.
In response to a complaint, the Council asked the publication to comment on whether the article complied with the Council’s Standards of Practice, which require publications to take reasonable steps to ensure that factual material is presented with reasonable fairness and balance (General Principle 3); and to avoid causing or contributing materially to substantial offence, distress or prejudice, or a substantial risk to health or safety, unless doing so is sufficiently in the public interest (General Principle 6). In relation to this the complaint expressed concern that the prominent and repeated references to the accused’s transgender status, were unfair and were not justified by the public interest as the transgender status of Hale is not reported to have been a contributing factor in the shooting.
In response, the publication said the mass shooting happened in the early hours Australian time and as with similar attacks, was a fast moving, developing story that required multiple updates on its website as news and facts became available. The publication said Nashville Police Chief John Drake told media that Hale “feels that she identifies as trans, but we’re still in the initial investigation into all of that and if it actually played a role into this incident”.
It said Nashville police also revealed a sense of resentment might have played a role in Hale’s attack on the private Christian school they once attended and had compiled a detailed manifesto before the shooting. The publication said that with any critical incident like a mass shooting, the name, background and motivation of the shooter is of vital importance to the report and that it is in the public interest to cover all aspects of the story. The publication said that it was law enforcement officials who confirmed Hale was transgender and raised the fact they were investigating if this was a motivating factor for the crime.
Conclusion
The Council recognises that in a breaking news report, such as this, early reports of an event may differ significantly from what is reported in a later version. In this context, the Council notes the subsequent updates to the article placed significantly less prominence on Hale’s transgender status than was initially the case. Nonetheless, the Council does not consider that the initial prominent and repeated references to Hale’s transgender status were warranted.
The Council notes that apart from the Police Chief confirming Hale was transgender and noting that the police would consider whether this was a contributing factor, there was no further information to justify the prominent and repeated references. The Council considers that in the absence of a clearer link between the crime and Hale’s transgender status, particularly in a breaking news story, such references were unfair. Accordingly, the Council considers the publication failed to take reasonable steps to ensure factual material was presented with reasonable fairness and balance in breach of General Principle 3.
The Council’s long-standing position is that publications should exercise great care to not place unwarranted emphasis on characteristics of individuals such as race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, country of origin, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, illness or age. Although the Council recognises that the Police Chief made a reference to Hale’s transgender status, it does not consider that this alone was sufficient to justify such prominent and repeated references to this characteristic.
The Council considers the prominence given to the accused’s transgender status, could lead some readers to conclude that this characteristic was either a cause of, or a significant factor in, the mass shooting, and could contribute to substantial prejudice against transgender people. The Council considers that in the absence of a clearer link between Hale’s transgender status and the mass shooting, the publication failed to take reasonable steps to avoid contributing to substantial prejudice and that there was insufficient public interest justifying it doing so.
Accordingly, the Council concludes that the publication breached General Principle 6.
Relevant Council Standards
This Adjudication applies the following General Principles of the Council:
Publications must take reasonable steps to:
- 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.
- Avoid causing or contributing materially to substantial offence, distress or prejudice, or a substantial risk to health or safety, unless doing so is sufficiently in the public interest.