Complaints Report: 1991

Thirty nine complaints were received in 1991 compared with 42 in 1990. Up to the end of 1991, the Council had received 301 complaints and held 27 hearings.

Two hearings were held in 1991. Reports of the Council's adjudications appear below. Of the 39 complaints:

• One went to hearing and adjudication (the other hearing was on a complaint held over from 1990).
• Twenty five were not followed up by the complainants, with no reasons being given. Some of these may have been settled between complainants and newspapers, with or without the Council's help.
• Two were complaints against publications other than newspapers.
• Two were not specific enough for consideration.
• Two otherwise did not meet criteria for Council consideration.
• Two were about advertising, an area not dealt with by the Council. One was about circulation.
• One was too old, beyond the six-month rule.
• One resulted in the complainant achieving satisfaction from the newspaper and the Council was so informed.
• Two 1991 complaints were still "live" at the end of the year.

Following are the details of the two hearings held in 1991:

ALDERMAN HARRY RANKIN vs. NORTH SHORE NEWS

Because of conflicting evidence, the B.C. Press Council has dismissed a complaint by Vancouver alderman Harry Rankin against the thrice-weekly North Shore News.

Subject of the complaint was a column by Trevor Lautens on November 23, 1990, headed "Hard to COPE with overtown Communists." The column dealt with the Vancouver civic election in which five candidates of the Committee of Progressive Electors, including Rankin, won aldermanic seats.

In the course of his comment, Lautens told of attending a dinner held by the Downtown Eastside Residents Association in a Chinese restaurant in the early 1970's at which, he said, Rankin "was eating politically." He described Rankin's table manners as "a revolting and patronizing performance to show his solidarity with the common people."

The text of the Press Council's adjudication follows:

"Mr. Rankin objected to the portion of the column which was critical of how he dined and implied, in his words, 'that I was eating in a piggish manner to get down to the level of the D.E.R.A. people in order to show that I had the common touch, a perception that these people ate like pigs as I was condescending to eat like them although I knew better.'

"In their statements to the Council, Mr. Rankin and Mr. Lautens presented differing recollections of the D.E.R.A. dinner. Mr. Rankin maintained that the way he ate his meal was not unusual nor different from the way he normally ate, and referred to the paragraph in Mr. Lautens' column as 'a lie.'

"Mr. Lautens, asked by Mr. Rankin if he could recall whether he (Mr. Rankin) used a fork or chopsticks, said he couldn't remember, but recalled seeing Mr. Rankin use 'digging motions' while eating. Mr. Rankin said he used chopsticks.

"Because the dinner referred to happened almost 20 years ago and recollections differed, the Press Council was unable to determine which version of the dinner was correct.

"However, the Council supported Mr.Lautens' right to express opinions in his column based on his current recollections.

"The Council also noted that the newspaper gave Mr. Rankin the opportunity to meet with its management to discuss his concerns and offered him an opportunity to write a letter to the editor. Mr. Rankin chose to do neither.

"The complaint is dismissed."

Complaints by year | Complaints by paper | Top

FREELANCE JOURNALIST RICK OUSTON vs. THE PROVINCE

The B.C. Press Council has decided that freelance journalist Rick Ouston is owed an apology by The (Vancouver) Provin~e for being unfairly criticised in an article by Editor-in-Chief Brian Butters.

But the Council was unable to determine whether Ouston's professional reputation had been "trashed," as he clanned in a complaint that was the subject of a public hearing July 24.

Text of the adjudication:

"Mr. Ouston alleged that an opinion article written by Editor-in-Chief Brian Butters in the May 31 edition of The Province criticized him unfairly and damaged his professional reputation and his ability to earn a living.

"On May 30 a column written by Mr. Ouston appeared in The Vancouver Sun that questioned the credibility of an account in The Province of the death of an AIDS patient, written by Columnist Lyn Cockburn and published May 12.

"The Cockburn column, "An act of courage," told the story of a man who assisted a terminally-ill female AIDS patient in an unsuccessful attempt at suicide. At that point, according to Ms. Cockburn's source, the man 'took a plastic bag and held it over her face until she stopped breathing.'

"The Butters article took Mr. Ouston to task for what the writer termed 'assumptions about the Cockburn piece based on an interview he had with Patricia Graham (Province editorial page editor) in which Graham had mistakenly indicated that the Cockburn column was partly fact and partly fiction.'

"At the Press Council hearing, Mr. Butters revealed that he had told Mr. Ouston at a May 24 meeting that 'it was not unreasonable' for him (Mr. Ouston) to reach the conclusions he did in the draft column submitted to The Vancouver Sun which was published May 30 in revised form. One day later the Butters column appeared in The Province; it contained no indication that any concession had been made to Mr. Ouston, and no reference to Mr. Butters' comment to Mr. Ouston earlier that Patricia Graham had used 'an unfortunate choice of words.'

"The Press Council's judgment is that Mr. Ouston was both justified in pursuing the issue and fair in writing his column, considering the information he had received from columnist Cockburn and her editor, Patricia Graham.

"In the rebuttal by Province Editor-in-Chief Brian Butters, Mr. Ouston was unfairly criticized for a reference in his draft column that did not appear in the final, published version.

"The concern raised by Mr. Ouston regarding the potential damage to his professional credibility and his ability to earn income is impossible to assess. However, the Press Council considers that the possibility of reduced income and/or damage to his professional reputation exists.

"It is the decision of the Council that The Province owes Mr. Ouston an apology."

Complaints by year | Complaints by paper | Top