Tuesday 16 December 2014

Some newspapers never learn.......


On 12 December 2014 the Australian Press Council released its findings in Adjudication 1627: Complainant/The Daily Telegraph:

The Council considers that the headline and other material on the front page collectively imply that a high proportion of DSP recipients are “slackers” and should not be receiving DSP. This implication is due partly to the fact that the comparison in the words prominently super-imposed on the two photographs, and in the article on the front page, was between the full number of war-wounded people and the full number of DSP recipients. The implication is also contributed to by the stark contrast between the apparently able-bodied people in the queue and the severely wounded soldier. The impact of the front page presentation was not adequately dispelled by any of the material that appeared on subsequent pages, and evidence provided did not justify the implication. Accordingly, the Council has concluded that the headline, headings and text on the front page breached the Standards of Practice requiring reasonable steps to ensure accuracy and fairness.
The Council also considers the implication that a high proportion of DSP recipients are “slackers” and should not be receiving DSP was offensive to an extent not justified by the public interest. Accordingly, the material also breached the Standards of Practice on that ground.

The very same day, in print and online The Daily Telegraph was at it again, this time using the term “rorters” and “lowlife rorters”:



RORTERS who try to falsely claim millions of dollars in ­Disability Support Pensions will be flushed out of the ­system under a ­crackdown on the $16 billion welfare scheme.
From January 1, all new DSP ­applicants will be sent to ­Commonwealth-appointed doctors before they can be ­approved as part of a sweeping overhaul that will stamp out the “doctor shopping” rort.
The federal government will today announce that regular doctors will no longer be allowed to approve new DSP applications in the new year….

The Daily Telegraph failed to point out that a DSP applicant’s treating GP does not have the final say on whether or not a person is granted what its journalist described as "handouts".

It also avoided the subject of the need for applicants to provide corroborating evidence of their diagnosed conditions/symptoms from medical specialists and, supply reports from allied health professionals along with the results of diagnostics tests and any physical tests or assessments.

The newspaper also neglected to mention that the departmental Impairment Tables which have applied to all new applicants for DSP and any existing DSP recipients selected for medical review since 1 January 2012 are function-based not diagnosis based ie. The presence of a diagnosed condition does not necessarily mean that there will be an impairment to which an impairment rating may be assigned.

UPDATE

mUmBRELLA 15 December 2014:

The Australian Press Council has confirmed to Mumbrella the edition has attracted “at least one complaint” by 4pm, but did not specify how many, or the nature of them.



* Images from Your Democracy and mUmBRELLA   
                                                      

1 comment:

Unknown said...

<

This world will be a better place when the cancerous Murdoch departs.

I haven't purchased one of his publications for over 5 years.

If I feel the urge to read one (very rare) I go to a coffee shop or fast food joint and purchase something and read it, that keeps Aussies employed.

I will never subscribe to Foxtel because Murdoch owns 50% of it and manages it.

To sum up ..... the Murdoch organisation is a phone hacking criminal organisation, Registered in the State Delaware U.S., the most lax Corporation law States in the U.S.

News Limited has over 140 subsidiary companies in tax havens across the world whose sole purpose is to dodge paying taxes.

Limited News in Australia pays less than 2% tax.