Australian Press Council membership

Australian Press Council membership

LINA has partnered with the Australian Press Council (APC) to offer LINA members group membership to the APC.

Along with the LINA Editorial Standards, LINA member publishers are required to uphold the Australian Press Council’s Principles and Standards of Practice (these standards are very closely aligned).

What this means for your newsroom

LINA members can now refer any complaints to the Australian Press Council for adjudication, giving you a process for complaints handling that’s external to your organisation should you need it it. This can be helpful in reducing the amount of time you might spend engaging in a dispute and provides and avenue for these to be resolved.

Being a member of the APC also strengthens your reputation as a credible and legitimate source of news. Some councils, policy makers and organisations define journalism by membership of the APC, so it’s important to ensure your audience is aware of your membership.

APC membership is free for LINA members that have an annual income of less than $300k, and discounted for LINA members with an income over that threshold.

Next steps:

  1. Familiarise yourself the APC Statement of Principles and make sure you’re comfortable adhering to these.
  2. Share this information with relevant members of your team so they’re also aware of these editorial standards.
  3. Make sure your own editorial policies are available to your audience on your website (LINA’s Editorial Standards are available for use too).
  4. Publish the notice of membership text (below) on your website or in your print edition.
  5. Add the LINA member badge and the APC member badge (download below) to your website.

The APC also has some helpful privacy principles and two specific standards on coverage of suicide and contacting patients. These are the standards against which they assess complaints and are generally good guidance on reporting.

Australian Press Council notice of membership

Along with the LINA member badge and the APC logo, the text below is to be placed in a prominent position within a print or digital publication:

[Publication name] is bound by the Standards of Practice of the Australian Press Council. If you believe the Standards may have been breached, you may approach [publication name] or make a complaint to the Australian Press Council in writing at www.presscouncil.org.au. The Council may also be contacted on 1800 025 712.

The text may be placed:

  • On the home page of a website
  • On a prominent position on the same page as letters to the editor
  • In any such other position as is agreed with the Executive Director of the APC

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