Press Council rules newspaper in breach over Rebel Wilson article

The Press Council has ruled the Sydney Morning Herald breached the Council’s General Principles relating to privacy
in a June item on Rebel Wilson.

The article, published in the “Private Sydney” (PS) column, reported that Rebel Wilson had posted on Instagram to announce she was in a relationship with American-based fashion designer Ramona Agruma.

Received complaints raised concerns that Andrew Hornery’s request for a response within 2 days about Ms Wilson’s same-sex relationship could be perceived as a threat to “out” her as gay. The complaints also raised concerns that Ms Wilson was forced to out herself on social media due to the request and that the article criticised her for not responding to the request.

The newspaper initially defended the article before later retracting it from its website and offering an apology by Hornery and a note apologising to its readers by editor Bevan Shields.

The Council noted the steps the publication took and the publication’s concession that it failed to take reasonable steps to comply with the Council’s Standards of Practice concerning privacy and avoidance of harm.

While Council acknowledged that public figures may have a reduced expectation of privacy it found the tenor of the communications with Ms Wilson concerning a deeply personal matter and the associated commentary on a matter which had no apparent connection to her public activities, intruded on her reasonable expectations of privacy.

It found insufficient public interest to justify such an intrusion and was likely to cause substantial offence and distress.

As a result, the newspaper breached General Principles 5 & 6.