Australian Press Council Submission to Proposed Communications Legislation

Further, the Press Council welcomes the commitment in the guidance note that the “Australian Government does not seek to influence the editorialisation and reporting by the free press”. [...] Definition of Professional News Content The Press Council welcomes the acknowledgement that adherence to the Press Council’s Standards of Practice is a means of meeting the requirements to be excluded from the proposed powers under the draft Bill. [...] In addition, and further to the comments in the section regarding the definition of news content, news sources are responsible for the professional content that is published. [...] The Press Council is aware of instances where organisations either pass themselves off as members of the Press Council or claim to adhere to the Standards of the Press Council without being a member. [...] This is vital to the integrity of the exclusion and the confidence consumers have in the integrity of news material being reported to them.