Complaints Report: 1996

Thirty five complaints were received in 1996. Up to the end of 1996, the Council had received 461 complaints and held 41 hearings.

Seven hearings were held in 1996. Reports of the mediations appear below.

COMPLAINT STATISTICS:

ABOUT:

AGAINST:

DISPOSED OF:

SEVEN FORMAL HEARINGS:

SANDI WHYTE vs. THE BOWEN ISLAND UNDERCURRENT

The B.C. Press Council has dismissed, with one reservation, a complaint from Sandi Whyte of Bowen Island against the Bowen Island Undercurrent.

Ms. Whyte, publisher of the competing Bowen Island Breeze Magazine, had complained that two articies in the Undercurrent were unbalanced, misleading and left the erroneous impression that she was "a thief." The artides in question, written by reporter Russ Francis, were published on Oct. 6 and 13th and dealt with Ms. Whyte's involvement in a financial "crisis" being suffered by the local Chamber of Commerce.

In her complaint, Ms. Whyte maintained that the Undercurrent exaggerated the financial difficulty the Chamber found itself in as a result of a contractual dispute with her, involving proceeds from sale of advertising from a business service directory. Ms. Whyte charged the Undercurrent did not publish pertinent details of the story, and took unfair licence with certain facts.

She also maintained the Undercurrent unfairly relied on comments made by the Chamber president, Ghenia Frith, some of which were later recanted. It must be noted that coverage of this issue on Bowen Island is a matter of particular public interest, involving public funds (as handled by the Chamber of Commerce), and is also of particular sensitivity in that it involves two competing newspapers.

In its adjudication of Feb. 8 the Press Council found:

The Press Council finds that reporting by Russ Francis for the Undercurrent is essentially accurate over the two stories published.

The stories carried the basic details of the dispute between the Chamber and Ms. Whyte, as given to the newspaper by the Chamber president and other sources.

The Council cannot support Ms. Whyte's contention that there was any deliberate inference in the stories of legal wrongdoing. While the Chamber president may have attempted to withdraw certain comments at a later stage, the Undercurrent took in good faith the information she provided initially, and shaped the stories accordingly.

Indeed, evidence given by Ms. Whyte during the hearing substantiated much of the information published by the Undercurrent.

While the Press Council firmly stands behind the responsibility of the newspaper involved to report on a matter of public interest, the Council has the following reservation:

Ms. Whyte was given only one opportunity by the Undercurrent to respond to the allegations, and she did indeed do so by declining comment, explaining the matter was in the hands of her lawyer.

Her response, however, appeared at the tailend of the front-page Oct. 6 story. Due to the fact that allegations were being made against Ms. Whyte, and that there were possible legal ramifications, Ms. Whyte's position should have been stated earlier in the story to give it proper balance.

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THE BAILEYS vs. THE PROVINCE

The B.C. Press Council has upheld a complaint by a West Vancouver couple against the Province over a column which painted them as cold and heartless people.

Jill and Ron Bailey complained that a column by Joey Thompson (Goodbye, grandkids, 8 Nov. 95) was unfair and inaccurate because it only told one side of a complicated family dispute. The column told how the "property rich" Baileys were trying to throw their daughter-in-law, Leslie-Ann Bailey, and two grand children out of their North Shore apartment after Leslie-Ann had become separated from the Bailey's son, Gary. The Baileys own the apartment building.

The Baileys were upset that Thompson never called them for their side of the story and, as a result, had produced a story which was embarrassing to them and misleading.

In response to the Baileys, Thompson explained that she was writing a clearly marked opinion piece, and that she had painted a fair and honest picture of a single-mother's plight. Thompson also supplied the Baileys with a raft of research material about Leslie-Ann's story to show that she had based her column on solid evidence.

In its adjudication of May 23 the Council found:

The Press Council recognizes that Thompson, as a columnist, is entitled and expected to take positions and/or express opinions on a variety of issues. Columnists, however, are not exempt from standard joumalistic practices based on principles of faimess and accuracy.

When Thompson entered into wtiat was obviously a tangled family dispute, she faced a responsibility to verify the allegations made by Leslie-Ann Bailey against her inlaws. Instead, Thompson chose to explain the plight of a single mother facing eviction without contacting the other parties in the dispute to hear their concerns or give them an opportunity to defend themselves.

Thompson's failure to contact the Baileys resulted in omissions of fact that would have given readers a more accurate picture of the dispute. As well, the omissions may have been singly responsible for the dispute reaching the Press Council.

For example, through assumption, rather than research, Thompson describes the Baileys as "property rich." The column also described them as "peppering" Leslie-Ann with requests to show the apartment she was living in, whereas the Baileys claimed there were only two requests.

The column further implied that the eviction notice was unexpected when, according to the Baileys, it was the culmination of a year-long dispute.

Although the Baileys charged the column invaded their privacy, the Council finds that Thompson had the right to explore the issues found in the family dispute, but should have done so in a fairer manner.

With this exception, the complaint is upheld.

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OLIVE MARIE OLAJIDE vs. THE PROVINCE

The B.C. Press Council has upheld in part a complaint by a Vancouver woman against the Province over the paper's coverage of events surrounding her daughter's tragic death.

Olive Maria Olajide complained that several stories which ran in August and September, 1995 had needlessly intruded into her privacy and grief and contained inaccuracies. The stories dealt with the death of Olajide's 30-year-old daughter, Tracy, a former prostitute who was found murdered near Agassiz, and the ensuing police investigation. Of particular concern to the complainant was a story written by reporter Roberta Staley on Aug. 22, 1995 (Song Moves Many to Tears) was accompanied by a photograph showing Olajide and her seven-year-old grandson Tommy, Tracy's child, leaving the memorial service for Tracy Olajide.

The complainant was also upset over the use of 'Hooker' in a headline to describe her daughter, whom she says was winning a tough battle with drug addiction. In addition, she was concerned with the use in one story of a picture of her publicly known son, Michael Olajide, a former Canadian middleweight boxing champion. Using his picture was "sensational", she complained, because he lived in New York and had no connection with Tracy's death.

The Province rejected the complainant's assertion that its coverage was insensitive and sensational, explaining that it is usual to mention a prominent relation of someone who is in the news, and that while the use of the word 'hooker' may rankle some, it was a commonly used term widely-used in tabloid newspapers. The paper expressed its deep sympathy for Olive Olajide and her loss, and pointed out that the paper had always taken an aggressive role in covering the lives and death of street women in an attempt to find solutions. Tracy's was just one of more than 100 stories the paper had published in the last few years on murdered prostitutes in an effort to push authorities into finding ways to reduce the crime associated with street prostitution.

In its adiudication of May 24 the Council found:

This complaint epitomizes the difficult situations with which the press must often struggle in terms of achieving a balance between serving the public interest and observing an appropriate level of sensitivity toward people gripped by trauma.

In this case, the Press Council finds that the Province disregarded the private wishes of the Olajide family, and intruded into their grief. Despite the fact that Prownce reporter Roberta Staley was clearly told she was not welcome at the funeral of Tracy Olajide, the paper chose to send Staley and a photographer to the proceedings. The Province justifies this decision on the basis that a reporter from a competing newspaper had been invited to the funeral by the family.

The result of the Province's unannounced attendance was the publication of a photograph of the deceased woman's seven-year-old son and his grandmother, Olive Olajide. In doing so, the Prownce again deliberately disregarded the wishes of Mrs. Olajide, who had earlier insisted that her grandson not be identified in any pictures, due to deep concerns about the potential negative impact upon him given the trauma and social stigma surrounding his mother's murder.

While the press frequently must tread on the edges of human grief, additional sensitivity in observing the family's requests was required, since the publication of an original story on Tracy's murder had already caused her family great consternation.

Mrs. Olajide also called into question the accuracy of the Province's stories. The Council heard no compelling evidence to support these claims.

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JOYCE HILLSTEAD vs. THE PROVINCE

The B.C. Press Council has dismissed with one reservation a complaint by a Nelson woman that Province columnist Kathy Tait invaded her privacy and caused her unnecessary stress and grief.

Vanessa Hillstead had complained that Tait's Matters of the Heart column of Nov. 20, 1995 unfairly blamed her as the person responsible for having the Ministry of Social Services shut down her former foster parent's foster-care home in Nelson.

The column recounted Joyce Hillstead's battle with the ministry over its clandestine investigation of her foster home after receiving an allegation of sexual abuse from a former foster child, a foster child who "had previously made false claims of sexual abuse about another foster parent," according to Ms. Taft. The Hillsteads were eventually cleared of any wrongdoing but their home was still closed down. The Hillsteads claimed they were victims of the former foster child's allegations and were angry at the ministry for denying them "due process.

Vanessa Hillstead said that Ms. Tait had violated her privacy by making it easy for people in Nelson to identify her as the former foster child in question in the column. This harmed her, she said, "because I live in a very small community and people know that it is me that is being talked about." She also complained that Ms. Taft's assertion that she had previously made "false claims" of sexual abuse against another foster parent were untrue.

In its adjudication of Sept. 26 the Council found:

The Press Council determined that on the basis of ministry information available to the columnist at the time, the published article was accurate and certainly in the public interest. For that reason the complaint is dismissed with one reservation.

The reservation concerns the wording of the column which inadvertently identified the complainant, Vanessa Hillstead. However, privacy was a minimal issue in this case because knowiedge of the complainant's situation was widespread in her community prior to publication of the column, as clearly noted in ministry documentation.

The Council notes that Ms. Tait used the word "false" in describing allegations by Ms.Hillstead of sexual abuse by an adoptive parent, when that allegation was determined to be unsubstantiated. The Province conceded the error at the start of the hearing.

The Council also notes Ms. Hillstead's concerns regarding the column's headline, "Lies take toll on foster mom." The headline was not totally supported by the content of the column.

Finally, the Council upholds in this decision the principle that columnists who write opinion articles are not subject to the same standards of objectivity that apply to news stories.

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LOIS BOONE & PAUL RAMSEY vs. PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

A newspaper has the right to decide which elected representatives it will invite to write for its opinion pages, the B.C. Press Council said in dismissing a complaint against the Prince George Citizen.

The complaint, lodged by provincial cabinet ministers Lois Boone (MLA for Prince George-Mt. Robson) and Paul Ramsey (MLA for Prince George North), said the Citizen was treating them unfairly because it ran regular columns by two local Reform MPs but had refused to extend the same opportunity to them.

The complainants said the Citizen's policy "clearly discriminates" against them as local NDP MLAs, and they asked "the Press Council to rule that the Citizen's present policy is clearly contrary to journalistic ethics and basic principles of fairness." At the hearing Mr. Ramsey reiterated that their complaint was not about the paper's right to set its own editorial policy, but was "about fair and equitable treatment for local politicians." He said fairness dictated that the paper should either publish columns from all local politicians or none.

Citizen Editor Roy Nagel defended his paper's decision to allow local MPs but not MLAs to write unpaid columns for the paper. By encouraging the MPs to write alternating columns, he said, ft gave them an opportunity to talk to their constituents from Ottawa, a problem not faced by local MLAs who were more frequently quoted in the news. In response to the complaint that was filed several months ago, Mr. Nagel also pointed out that he did not want to give the MLAs a column in the run-up to the provincial election. "It would have been an unfair advantage," he said. He said that it would be "just as unfair to publish the MPs prior to an election and the paper "will apply similar limits when the situation arises."

He disagreed with the complainants that this was an issue of fairness, although he could understand their point of view. "This is not about fairness," he said, "it's a freedom of the press issue. The editorial page is where the editor and publisher decide what opinions they want to publish."

Mr. Nagel suggested the two cabinet ministers consider writing letters to the editors if they wanted to speak directly to the people. Ms. Boone said they had done that but it was not as effective as a column. "I want the same treatment as others," she said. "It's only fair."

In its adjudication of Sept 27 the Council found:

The Press Council dismisses the complaint because it involves the fundamental principle of freedom of the press.

While the Pnnce George Citizen may indeed be seen to be unfair in the manner in which it chooses to select what it publishes, that very choice rests upon the foundation of a constitutional right.

For the Press Council to direct what is "fair" or what should or should not be published in the matter of editorial policy, is to set upon a perilous course that threatens to infringe upon the freedom of the press.

The Press Council notes, however, that the public has a legitimate expectation to expect that its free press behave in a responsible manner as it carries out its important mandate of keeping the citizens of a free society informed. Thus, the Council commends the Prince George Citizen for extending an invitation to the complainants to submit material for consideration, and the complainants for bringing their concerns forward, for what resulted was an informative and insightful debate on the responsibilities of the press in a free and democratic society.

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BC GREEN PARTY vs. VANCOUVER SUN

The B.C. Press Council has upheld in part a complaint by the B.C. Green Party that some coverage of the party's affairs during the recent provincial election was inaccurate.

Stuart Parker, leader of the B.C. Green Party, complained that the Vancouver Sun had deliberately excluded mentioning Green candidates and party positions in its election campaign coverage, and had therefore violated the first canon of the Press Council's Code of Practice, accuracy. This had the effect, said Mr. Parker, of misleading the public "by painting a false picture of the electoral landscape" in which few or no Greens were running, "when in fact more than 70 were running."

He said itwas unfair of the paper to fail to list the names of duly nominated Green Party candidates in its riding profiles and lists of duly nominated candidates, particularly when the party was running more candidates across the province than some of the parties whose candidates were listed.

The Vancouver Sun's Deputy Managing Editor Gary Mason disagreed that the paper's coverage of Green issues during the campaign was unfair or misleading. At the start of the campaign, he said, the paper made a decision to devote most of its attention to the three main parties in the Legislature, the NDP, Liberals and Reform; and when publishing itineraries or candidate listings that were to appear with regional profiles, it would only include the other two parties represented in the Legislature, Social Credit and the Progressive Democratic Alliance. "Resources are finite," he said at the hearing, and "the Sun needs the discretion to decide how we are going to cover elections." He noted that when the paper had made mistakes in stories about the Green Party, corrections were quickly published.

Mr. Mason said the Lower Mainland was the main focus of the paper's election coverage, and pointed out that 10 days before the election the paper published the entire list of candidates, Greens included, for all 38 Lower Mainland ridings.

In its adjudication of Nov. 28 the Press Council found:

In the weeks preceding the provincial election, the Vancouver Sun published riding profile information listing only the names of candidates of five specific political parties. This was consistent with the Sun's election coverage criteria. However, by excluding the names of other candidates, among them the Green Party, the profiles were inaccurate representations of the election choices available to voters in those ridings.

The Sun did not advise its readers of its decision to list only the candidates of the five parties represented in the B.C. Legislature, either at the beginning of its campaign coverage, or on the actual pages on which the profiles appeared. Further confusion resulted when the Sun erred on two occasions when it published the names of some but not all candidates of other parties.

While this had the effect of possibly misleading readers, the Press Council heard no evidence that the Sun deliberately set out to mislead the public or create voter misperception. This is supported by the fact that the Sun eventually published a complete list of all candidates for the Lower Mainland ridings prior to the election.

The Press Council urges journalists to clearly indicate whether news items such as candidates' lists, etc., are complete or partial, to avoid reader confusion.

As for the rest of the Sun's election coverage, the Press Council accepts and unconditionally supports the right of the press to determine the type and extent of coverage it gives to parties and candidates.

The accuracy aspect of the complaint is upheld.

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ROBERT WRIGHT vs. THE VANCOUVER SUN

An apology by a newspaper should be of sufficient prominence to remedy the adverse effects of an erroneous headline or story, the B.C. Press Council said in upholding a complaint against the Vancouver Sun.

Robert Wright of Victoria, president of the Oak Bay Marine Group and member of the Pacific Salmon Commission, complained that the headline of a front-page story in the June 19 edition of the Vancouver Sun was wrong and had severely damaged his reputation. The main headline "Fishing lodge owner investigated" was followed by the sub-headline, "The operator facing overfishing charges is a member of the Pacific Salmon Commission."

The following day the paper published a small apology on page two which acknowledged that the headline had "incorrectly stated that fishing lodge owner Bob Wright faced overfishing charges."

Mr. Wright complained that given the prominence of his position as a member of the salmon commission and as the owner of several well know fishing lodges, it was unfair of the Vancouver Sun "to be able to injure someone's personal reputation by printing a headline which is both inaccurate and at variance with the story which follows, and then not give the same prominence to a correction." He said at the Press Council hearing that if the apology had been more prominent, he would not have complained to the council.

Vancouver Sun Deputy Managing Editor Gary Mason acknowledged that the headline was wrong but stood by the story, and said the apology was published promptly in the usual place, page two, where most readers would look for such an item, and in the usual size.

In addition, he did not agree with Mr. Wright's contention that the Sun should have made it clear in the headline that it was one of Mr. Wright's companies that was the subject of the 'investigation,' not Mr. Wright personally, as the headline implied.

In its adjudication of Nov. 29 the Press Council found:

The story's main headline and smaller sub-headline were both incorrect. Mr Bob Wright was not charged with over-fishing, nor was he being personally investigated by the Department of Fisheries, as the headline suggests.

The correction and apology was inconspicuous, incomplete and did not convey to the reader that the Bob Wright referred to in the correction was the same Bob Wright who is the president of the Oak Bay Marine Group and member of the Pacific Salmon Commission.

The Canadian Press Style Book advises that when a corrective is issued, it "deserves as much prominence as the original error." Further, the style book states that when people are involved, "we try to make amends by giving a complete description of the error, a full accounting of the facts and any background needed to add proper perspective."

While not binding on members of the Vancouver Sun, or the Press Council, the council feels the style book offers useful advice which in this case was not followed.

The complaint is upheld.

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