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Press Council ducks interesting issue
By Steven | February 10, 2008
If you talk to a journalist on the basis that what you say is “not for publication” and the journalist publishes your remarks anyway, has the journalist behaved unethically? I think most people would think so. In the past, the Press Council has leaned this way, too:
… if the conditions under which the [source] agreed to be interviewed were not accepted by the newspaper, then he was entitled to withdraw his comments. In the council’s view a newspaper cannot unilaterally impose its own rules upon a member of the public while choosing to ignore any conditions he may have set.
But in a recent case, where the issue was squarely before the Press Council, it rather disingenuously avoided it. The DomPost ran a story about a developer whose “army shack” homes had riled neighbours. The story was plainly newsworthy, and the developer was, it seems, a rather unsympathetic fellow. His concerns were mostly about various alleged inaccuracies in the story, which I won’t go into here. But one of his arguments was that he agreed to talk to the reporter only on the basis that the chat was “not for publication” and any comments on the record would be in writing. (He subsequently forwarded some written material). The reporter then quoted the conversation (misquoted, according to the complainant).
The Press Council blythely concluded that there was a “difference in the recollection” of the reporter and the complainant about what was said and that it was “not in a position to rule on these matters”. As for the accuracy of the quoting, that may be so. But look at the DomPost’s argument about the “not for publication” point:
… the reporter identified herself and at no time offered any acceptance of the position that Mr Nolan’s remarks were not for publication.
The DomPost wasn’t disputing that Nolan regarded the remarks as “off the record”. It was simply saying it never agreed to that condition (though the reporter was happy to keep listening to his remarks without informing Nolan that she may ignore it).
Point one: the Press Council should really have addressed this head-on. It was squarely raised by the complainant. It’s an important matter of principle. I know there are journalists who believe that unless they specifically and expressly agree to go off the record, then they can write what they like, even if the person they’re interviewing clearly believes the conversation is confidential. This decision can be read as supporting that view, though I’m not sure the Press Council intends it to. We really need better guidance that this.
Separate point: I think this journalistic approach is unethical, or at least will be in most cases. I think that reporting comments that have been provided on an off-the-record basis is a form of “misrepresentation, deceit or subterfuge” (Principle 9) and can only be justified where the public interest requires. There seemed to be no particular public interest in the material acquired by the deceptive conduct here.
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