Media Watch has called into question the power of the Press Council as News Corp continues to breach its standards.
With News Corp papers found in breach of the press watchdog's standards several times already this year, host Paul Barry said the media company is "laughing" at its rulings on last night's episode of the ABC program.
"The Press Council has very little respect among the journalists and publishers it’s supposed to hold accountable. And in this system of voluntary regulation it has no power to punish the organisations that fund it," Barry said.
Barry described News Corp as a "unrepentant media group that’s convinced it’s superior to the regulator".
He added the Press Council has little power to punish papers beyond having to publish the regulator’s "legalistic, thousand-word judgement" somewhere in the offending title.
Last week, the Daily Telegraph was found to have published an "inaccurate" and "unbalanced" story, suggesting “politically correct vandals” wanted to tear down historical statues.
The News Corp-owned paper published the adjudication from the Press Council last Thursday, but then countered it with an editorial of its own, headed 'The Press Council want the Tele to give history a PC twist'.
Barry suggested News Corp could be "a little sensitive" to the Press Council criticism as the watchdog so often finds its coverage out of bounds.
The Daily Telegraph verdict was the third adverse finding against the paper in a matter of months.
Only two weeks ago, The Sunday Telegraph was stung for a story from July last year that implied a woman’s death was caused by her son.
The Tele was again pinged by the Press Council in March for a "misleading" story about Australia’s Human Rights Commission chief Gillian Triggs under pressure to step down after agreeing to headline a fundraiser for ex-Greens leader Bob Brown.
Barry called out News Corp's lack of remorse, with Telegraph columnist Miranda Devine calling the ruling a “really unfortunate” decision and The Australian’s associate editor Chris Kenny voicing his opinions on Twitter:
"Press Council is a joke. Media is overrun by prancing virtue signallers, leftist activists and chippy people desperate to prove they are superior to the people they serve," Kenny said.
AdNews is awaiting News Corp's response. The Press Council declined to comment.
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