THE COUNTRY PRESS
In November, the Press Council met in Mount Gambier. At a public meeting, it invited
discussion of the "Role and Responsibility of Country Newspapers". The audience heard three
very different approaches to the subject
t the M ount Gambier public
meeting, country newspapers
w ere discussed from three
p e rsp e c tiv e s:
a
lo cal
government leader, an " ordinary" reader
and a former country journalist, editor
and executive. Chaired by Dorothy Ross,
the C ou ncil's V ice C hairm an and a
fo u n d a tio n p u b lic m em b er of the
Council, it w as the twelfth such seminar
held by the Council to give people an
opportunity to see the work of the Press
Council and to discuss issues related to
the press. The Mayor of M ount Gambier,
Don M cDonnell, opened the seminar,
w elco m in g th e C o u n cil to M o u n t
Gambier.
different approaches. In the region served
by the South East Local G overnm ent
Association, there are five individual news­
paper p roprietors w ho covered local
affairs. Ownership has remained in the
hands of the individual family companies,
giving different perspectives to those
available from the metropolitan press and
the electronic media.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
He gave as an exam ple of the m oral
responsibility of local new spapers the
re cen t clo su re o f th e T a tia ra M ea t
Company in Bordertown. The local paper,
the Border Chronicle, published its first
ever sp ecial e d itio n , co m p lete w ith
editorial. He noted that in the circumstances
such a p u b licatio n d em an d ed g rea t
courage ofitseditor/proprietor. However,
a well-balanced coverage w as provided.
The editorial w as thou ght-provoking
w ithou t being offensive. The ed ition
carried no advertising and w as published
as a service. He contrasted this with the
Adelaide Advertiser which sent a photo­
grapher to illustrate a story researched by
phone and written in Adelaide.
A
John Ross (no relation to the evening's
Chairman), a farmer from the local area
and the President of the South East Local
Governm ent A ssociation, started by
noting that, as an avid consumer of
available newspapers, this is the first
time he had been asked to speak on the
relevance of country newspapers and
their impact within his region.
He suggested that "the role of news­
papers is irrevocably bound in conflict.
Indeed, conflict is the essential element
in creating copy of interest to readers,
but it is not this conflict to w hich I
primarily refer."
The conflict to w hich he referred was
how c a p ita l and co n sc ie n ce are
managed to maximise profit for the pro­
prietors, while producing an ethical pub­
lication that "reflects, chronicles and
projects community attitudes in a prod­
uct that is kinder than a mirror image, for
a price the subscriber doesn't question".
He noted that different proprietors had
"Against this competitive backdrop, the
first objective for a country newspaper
must be relevance. A blunt test of rel­
evance is - would its absence diminish the
quality of our lives? From this qualifica­
tion of relevance the function logically
evolves to establish a de facto contract be­
tween the newspaper management and
the community who are its subscribers."
The A dvertiser photo w as "tak en on
Sunday morning and showed the news­
agent standing in the m ain street at a time
when only one or two cars were parked
there, with not another person in sight,
giving the intended vivid im pression of a
ghost town. The camera did not lie, but the
impression it conveyed distorted the truth
by
p ro v id in g
a
ste re o ty p e d
v ersio n o f an event unlikely to be
questioned by most readers. The same
Adelaide publication carried a picture of
a su p p o se d ly d e stitu te fa rm in g
family standing in front of a decrepit
hovel that hadn't been lived in for ten
years".
M r Ross contrasted the fair deal he had
had from the local m edia w ith his
experiences with metropolitan media.
He gave two examples of contact with
city media. A conflict within a local
council could easily have been reported
in a w ay that healed, rather than created
divisions. An ABC radio personality,
interviewing M r Ross, led the listeners
to conclude that council was inept, out of
touch with community attitudes to the
extent that the Minister should consider
sacking them. " I saw that interview as
being adversarial but accept that radio
patrons want their entertainment at a
faster pace." The same interviewer had
previously talked to M r Ross about a
Cartoon Gallery being established in Bob
Hawke's childhood home. "The inter­
viewer made some assertions that, as
Bob Hawke was on the nose politically
in Bordertown, there would be little
community acceptance and its likely
failure could be gleefully expected as a
put down for the Prime Minister. The
notion offended me and I quickly stressed
that the project had bipartisan support,
and we would have been churlish to
adopt the stereotyped view proffered."
M r Ross also spoke of some of problems
facing the local area if the social and
economic health of the region is to be
preserved. " I have often spoken of these
issues, but sense that there is a pre­
vailing Hanrahan sentiment that fatal­
istically accepts ruin or, in the best Anzac
tradition, we will soldier on: if we are
2 AUSTRALIAN PRESS COUNCIL NEWS, FEBRUARY 1995
lucky there w on't be a bullet for us.
"H ow ever if our local press were to
devote time and resources to funda­
m en tal issu e s su ch as th e se , th e
accep tan ce and u nd erstan d in g en ­
gendered would promote a culture more
receptive to successful resolution."
" I commend our country newspaper
p ro p rieto rs for the role they have
played."
A COUN TRY SCHOOL TEACHER
Ros Cooper, a school teacher widely
experienced in country schools and in
isolated outback settings, w as quite
surprised to find herself on the platform,
having no specialist knowledge of the
press but hoped to give one person's
perspective and some ideas that she had
gained from other rural people.
She thought it would be easy to dismiss
the importance of the country press be­
cause 85% of people live in the cities.
"D espite this we all have some experi­
ence of the romance of the bush, whether
it is through personal experience or
through some kind of media." She set
her scene with a quote from "Clancy of
the Overflow":
As the stock are slowly stringing, Clancy
rides behind them singing,
For the drover's life has pleasures that the
townsfolk never know.
And the bush hasfriends to meet him, and
their kindly voices greet him
In the murmur o f the breezes and the river
on its bars,
And he sees the vision splendid of the
sunlit plains extended,
And at night the wondrous glory o f the
everlasting stars.
"A ll of us have somewhere in our time
b ee n stru c k by th at ch o rd of
feeling proud about living in this really
beautiful and vast land, but I think for
many Australians our awe of the bush
stops at the physical surroundings. There
is a certain amount of respect from urban
people about the cocky struggling to
survive on the land. M any of us have a
respect for our rich indigenous culture.
B u t I q u e stio n how m any u rban
A u stralian s actually cred it country
people with a great deal of intelligence."
As a result having been brought up in
the suburbs of Adelaide, Ros did not
have much experience of country people
until she moved to Port Augusta when
she becam e a teacher. Her opinions
changed. She was surprised to find a
clean, green and very friendly town. She
later got a job with the School of the Air
as an itinerant teacher and that meant three
years travelling in outback South Australia.
After that she moved to a small com­
m u nity in n o rth ern Sou th A u stralia,
Nepabunna, an Adnya-M athanha com­
munity with about 90 people living in it.
" I did learn a lot about country people. In
fact I developed a respect and an under­
standing of country people and I chose to
become a country person m yself."
W hen Ros found that the seminar was on
the country press, her heart sank and she
thought, "Country newspapers - urrrgh! I
thought straight aw ay about the local
papers that I read and my first thought
was: all they really do is tell us who won
the footy, who is getting married and who
has died". But then she had a cup of tea and
talked to som e other people and had
second thoughts. People told her, '"W ell I
alw ays read the births, m arriages and
deaths - 1 like to get it because of the footy
- 1 like to see my kid's name in print - 1just
get it for the TV program s', not many
people actually mentioned news I am sorry
to say. But one thing that did become clear
w as that people actually do read the
papers and they do read the news part
(after they have finished w ith the footy).
"Country newspapers tell us w hat is going
on in our community. They keep us in
touch with the social highlights of our little
towns and w e look forward to reading
th e m .... And regardless of the publishers,
the format and the quality of each of these
papers, they all provided both a social and
a hard news function."
Ros had a definite idea of what a country
n ew sp a p er sh o u ld
be lik e : "A
commercially produced newspaper should
be providing the community w ith up-todate information on local issues. It should
be presenting facts when they are needed
and detailed reporting of broader state and
federal issues as they relate to country
re sid en ts. It sh o u ld p ro v id e the
community with information about local
events and local government issues." But
she saw another role as well: to serve to
bind and bond the communities. "W hat I
believe is that these communities, whilst
isolated from the mainstream of society to
a certain extent, have incredible potential
and retain the crucial elements of a social
fabric that are disappearing in other areas.
"Com m unity newspapers have an im ­
portant role in informing and educating
communities but they also play a vital role
in maintaining and encouraging coherence
and encouraging positive and sustainable
com m unity d evelopm ent. ... C ountry
newspapers have a responsibility to report
facts in a value free a w ay as possible; on
contentious issues, to ensure a variety of
viewpoints are expressed; and be aware
of and reflect the interest of the popula­
tion of readers."
R os sp o k e a b o u t the re p o rtin g of
Aboriginal issues by the Port Augusta
paper and how much it had improved in
15 years. W hile noting that journalists
need to report, not interpret, she ob­
served that, even if the journalist main­
tains a fair perspective, the omission or
position of articles, photos and graphics
transmits clear but covert messages.
"O ur local paper reports on issues of
importance to Aboriginal people, and as
well as this their photos appear along­
side photos of non-Aboriginal people in
all of the social, sporting and political
articles. ... The opportunities for both
Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children
to be exposed to positive images of each
o th e r in th e lo c a l p ress is to be
com m ended.... Country newspapers like
teachers should be encouraging the
v a lu e s o f h o n e s ty , to le ra n c e and
sustainable community development."
Ros concluded by saying that she now
saw them in a different light. "I have
come to see that they, along with other
institutions like schools and govern­
ments and unions and businesses and
co m m u n ity o rg a n is a tio n s , a re all
playing a crucial role in the maintenance
and survival of the Australian rural
community."
TH E C OUN TRY JO U R N A LIST
John Parker, who had recently retired as
the Managing Director of Rural Press,
Australia's largest publisher of regional
and country papers, has had a lifetime
experience in journalism as a reporter,
editor and administrator. Yet, he could
say , "This is m y first exposure to the
Australian Press Council. In m y days as
a working journalist, and there w as a lot
of them, I considered the Council almost
'G od-like', sitting up there in judgment
on all that we did, and I believe most
journalists still feel that way.
" I want to commend the Press Council
for its initiative in bringing its activities
out to the people ... who work in the
industry, and to the people who read our
newspapers. I am particularly pleased
that the Press Council is again out in the
country, here at M ount Gambier, where
the Border W atch has an enviable record
in the industry, and in this community,
for very responsible publishing."
He started with w hat he saw as the prime
responsibilities of a country newspaper:
to inform, not to preach; to be a place of
AUSTRALIAN PRESS COUNCIL NEWS, FEBRUARY 1995 3
record; and to be a leader and developer
of community pride.
"But I repeat - again and again - that the
first responsibility of a country news­
paper is faithfully to rep o rt th e life o f the
com m u n ity. Far too often, I'm afraid,
some country newspapers fail to adhere
to that principle.
"A ll available editorial resources should
be used for reporting: our shire councils;
our chamber of commerce meetings; our
courts; our sport (in detail); our social
life and community life. We need not
only to instruct and guide our reporters
in th is p h ilo so p h y - we need to
encourage them to believe in it."
M r P arker saw as p ro b lem s w ith
m odern jo u rn alism that too m any
stories are "created" and too much time
is spent in news columns interpreting
and editorialising. He also thought too
much time was spent making papers
look pretty. But the way to boost cir­
culation, he said, was to get back to the
basics of reporting.
"O u r re p o rte rs sh o u ld alw ay s
remember that just as many people read
the details of Sunday's bowls, which
rep orters hate writing, as those who read
the beat up front page story about a
single, irate ratepayer."
Quoting John B Fairfax, Chairman of
Rural Press to the effect that new s­
papers should be known for their fair­
ness, objectivity and accuracy, and that
papers should seek to be constructive,
not destructive, Mr Parker argued that
new spapers m ust never get the re­
putation of being knockers.
L ook in g to the fu tu re, M r P arker
suggested that as "the country news­
paper has a strong and an enviable place
in the community it serves, I just can't
see how, in the next century, it would
ever be replaced."
Although he noted he was "grey-haired"
and "probably very old fashioned", he
said that he "just cannot see that the
electro n ic new spap er w ill ev er be
applicable in country areas, certainly
not in the next century. Perhaps in the
next two decades, we shall, in general
terms, have greater emphasis on the
provision of some information by elec­
tronic means.
"B u t I just can't visualise how this
electronic means of communication - no
matter how sophisticated - could carry
the detail, in easy-to-read format, that a
good country newspaper now carries."
He quoted George Gilder who writes
regularly in Forbes:
"The electronic news problem is summed
up by the 'tw o minute rule'; the usual
requirement that, short of an earthquake or
a w ar, no story should take more than two
m in u tes to tell. It is an en tire ly
negative rule.
"The effect is to frustrate any viewer who
has any more than a superficial interest in
a news item."
M r Parker finished w ith some specific
examples of the difficulties of country
newspapers:
"Consider the feelings of the reporter who
has to report on his best friend's court case,
where he or she was convicted of a drink­
driving charge and has asked his friend the
reporter that the report be left out of the
paper ... That request w as, of course,
refused ... but I've known cases where this
has destroyed friendships.
"Consider the proprietor who prints a
rep o rt of sp eakers at a C ham ber of
Commerce meeting, critical of the week­
end services given by garages to the dis­
trict's tourists... and on the Monday morn­
ing all the garages ring up, so incensed that
they withdraw their advertising.
"Consider the case where a young reporter
goes to a football match and writes his
story critical of the captain/coach ... and
on the afternoon the paper comes out, he
goes down to the hotel for a drink or two
and has an unpleasant confrontation with
the coach. I can vouch for that example ...
I was flattened by a very competent left
hook after I was critical of a Rugby League
captain in the south west of N S W ...."
"That's all part of the life of those who are
en g ag ed in re sp o n sib le n ew sp ap er
publishing."
Q U ESTIO N S AND D ISC U SSIO N
During a long and thought-provoking
question and discussion time, a wide-range
of issues was covered. Questions about the
coverage of indigenous Australians in
country newspapers and what such news­
papers could do to attract younger readers
were answered in some depth. In response
to a question about the depth of knowledge
of the Press Council in the bush, John Parker
responded: "W ithin the news-paper indus­
try it has a very good re-putation and its
role is well-known. I think the community
knows there is a watchdog - they are not
quite sure what it does, but they read re­
ports in the city papers to say that the
Australian Press Council has dealt with a
complaint or done something and they
know there is a watchdog and I think that's
good in itself. The community knows there
is a watchdog looking afte r us to make sure
the press does the right thing".
In response to other questions, the speak­
ers discussed how frequently country
newspapers should publish editorials,
whether there should be an inquiry into
the concentration and/or cross owner­
ship of country and rural press, the re­
lationship that public figures had in small
communities w ith their press and the
fact that their press are not anonymous
pens, and, conversely, whether there is a
risk in this very close relationship be­
tween a community and its newspaper
of an editor becoming too close and
finding himself or herself in a position
that a dispassionate view of what is
going on cannot be published.
John Ross admitted that the actions of
lo c a l g o v e rn m e n t co u ld lead to
frustration on the part of the press. "Quite
often when sensitive issues need to be
discussed, council then goes in camera,
has a discussion and no details of that are
provided. There is a decision made and
people don't understand the decision­
making process. I agree that that's bad.
It's unfortunate that it should happen.
C o n fid e n tia lity n eed s to ex ist b u t
generally I believe that a proclivity of
council's to go in cam era, to shield them­
selves from a decision, usually is a dis­
service to them selves."
Ros Cooper answ ered the question,
"H ow far ahead of public opinion can
the newspaper be?", by suggesting not
very far. "W hen I refer to newspapers as
being leaders perhaps in alternative
agricultural procedures and those sorts
of things, I would im agine that would be
done within the confines of the usual
sort of structure, so when w e get to talk­
ing about the agricultural set-up we don't
always just have the local wheat and
barley side of things, but you can add a
bit more here and there".
The question w as also asked as to
w hether country new spapers should
report local courts. Joh n Parker re­
sponded, "I have no doubt at all about
court reporting. I think it should be done
and must be done. It is part of the
community life. Other than suicides. It
is interesting. I was always taught in my
day that you never reported the coro­
ner's inquest into a suicide. It was a very
personal affair that caused great distress
to the family."
TR A N SC R IP T
The proceedings of the M ount Gambier
meeting have been transcribed and the
complete record of the meeting will be
available for sale from the Council by the
end of February. The booklet will cost $4
(including postage with Australia or by
surface mail overseas).