WHERE WAS THE WATCHDOG?
How was it that corruption was able to flourish
in Queensland during the three decades from 1957 to 1987
when under social responsibility theory
the media had an obligation to act as a watchdog?
Thesis by: Steve Bishop
Queensland University of Technology
Student No: 01211137
Faculty: BBS – Faculty of Business
Course: BS84 – Master of Business
Campus: Gardens Point
Word Count: 84,464
October 4, 1997
September 2024: This is an edited version of the thesis in which much of the theory and associated literature has been omitted.
CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION
According to social responsibility theory the media have an obligation in a Western-style democracy to act as a watchdog on behalf of the public to protect them from government excesses and corruption (Siebert, Peterson and Schramm, 1956; Curran, 1991; McQuail 1987). Queensland is such a democracy and yet in 1989 the publication of what is popularly known as the Fitzgerald Report into Corruption (Report of a Commission of Inquiry Pursuant to Orders in Council) revealed that despite the presence of media which included two State Sunday newspapers, a State daily newspaper and an evening newspaper based in the State capital of Brisbane, as well as television and radio stations, the State Government had allowed or even condoned corruption which had flourished for decades, especially in the Police Force, and which had become widespread (Fitzgerald, 1989: 30). This thesis examines this paradox and seeks to discover how it was that corruption was able to flourish in Queensland during the three decades leading up to the Fitzgerald Inquiry when the media had an obligation under social responsibility theory to act as a watchdog.
This thesis outlines the well-documented corruption that flourished in Queensland for several decades prior to the Inquiry and examines in detail how major newspapers dealt with 12 issues where it appeared corrupt practices may have been involved. It argues that Queensland’s print media were deficient in carrying out the surveillance or ‘watchdog’ role that has been elaborated on by historians such as Curran (1191: 84), sociologists such as McQuail (1987: 116) and many others, including news media professionals.
The criteria developed in this thesis for measuring the effectiveness of newspaper surveillance in Queensland over the period of this study would appear to be applicable to the media in any Western liberal society.
Although there were frequent allegations in this period of abuses of Queensland’s democratic and electoral processes, it can be demonstrated that the conditions in which the media operated fitted the social responsibility model that Siebert, Peterson and Schramm described when they developed their four theories of the press in 1956 and under which the media in a Western liberal democracy have a duty to act as a watchdog.
It is pertinent at this point to explain the structure of this thesis (words in bold appear as chapter headings). Following this introduction the thesis will elaborate on the problem to be addressed. It is then necessary to explain the scope of the study, it being considered impossible in a study of this size to examine coverage of corruption in Queensland by every section of the media over an unlimited time frame. The thesis will justify a decision to examine a three-decade period by named newspapers. The chapter also defines exactly what it is that this thesis sets out to achieve.
The literature review will:
The chapter on theory outlines the theories applicable in this thesis and notes that it is necessary to develop social responsibility theory in order to define watchdog behaviour and to establish a set of criteria which set out a series of actions which, this thesis argues, demonstrate varying levels of commitment to the task of acting as a watchdog seeking to draw the attention of the public to corrupt behaviour. It argues that not until a newspaper has identified the key point of an issue can a logical, well-ordered investigation begin so that there is a systematic quest to reveal any abuse of proper procedure. The methodology sets out 12 issues to be examined, how and why they were selected, and the process involved in analysing them.
The issues are examined in part two of the thesis with conclusions being reached in relation to each of them and included in each chapter. Having drawn conclusions on each issue, the thesis then examines these to draw further conclusions about the coverage by nominated newspapers of the 12 issues as a whole.
CHAPTER 2 – THE PROBLEM TO BE ADDRESSED
In 1987 the Queensland Government initiated a commission of inquiry to investigate allegations of corruption in the State. Two years later the Commissioner, G E Fitzgerald, revealed in his official report, known as the Fitzgerald Report, that corruption had been rife in Queensland for decades. He said (1989: 30) that successive Governments and their departments had either failed to eradicate it or ignored it or even condoned it. He found (1989: 31) that in the late 1940s and early 1950s it was accepted in the Police Force that bribes from prostitution, starting-price (SP) bookmaking and illegal liquor sales were a form of semi-official tribute shared between the party in Government and some police. Corruption had reached a ‘quaint quasi-legitimacy’ by 1958 when the State’s top-ranked detective, Frank Bischof, was appointed Police Commissioner by the Country-Liberal Coalition Government which had won power in 1957. Over the next three decades of Coalition power until the Fitzgerald Inquiry was created in 1987, corruption became more and more refined and powerful to the point where it affected many important and far-reaching Government decisions (1989: 85-116).
Despite complaints by the Labor Opposition, some academics and others about electoral malapportionment, the political system was such that it plainly fell within the model described by Siebert et al (1956) as being one in which social responsibility theory is applicable. For the entire period to be examined, Queensland was a democracy in which State Governments were obliged to seek re-election after being in power for no more than three years (Queensland Year Book 1996). With a few exceptions, such as the possession of a criminal record, all adults were entitled to vote, although prior to February 1, 1966, Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders were not regarded as Australian citizens and were not enfranchised.
It can be shown that the media was well aware that it had a responsibility to act as a watchdog. The Courier-Mail, the State’s top-selling daily newspaper, constantly alluded to this duty to act as a watchdog. For the entire period to be reviewed, The Courier-Mail carried a motto, above its leading article, reminding readers: "Liberty depends on the Freedom of the Press and that cannot be limited without being lost - Jefferson." The placing of this quotation above the leading article said, in effect, with freedom from Government interference, newspapers could protect people’s liberty through being outspoken.
On March 2, 1982, H A Gordon, editor-in-chief of Queensland Newspapers, proprietors of The Courier-Mail, The Sunday Mail (one of two Statewide Sunday newspapers) and the Telegraph (Brisbane’s evening newspaper), told Courier-Mail readers on page 19 that "there were many members of Parliament who would dearly love to shackle the press". On the same page, in a feature headlined "The right to criticise", The Courier-Mail said:
This is a society which, for obvious reasons, is sceptical about the abilities and motives of politicians...But politicians and their activities remain a fair target for newspaper opinion and comment, particularly where - as in Queensland - there is an imbalance of political power and a sizeable minority of the population lacks adequate political representation.
The feature was commenting on the fact that a zonal electoral system had resulted in an inequitable voting system where one vote did not have one value because some city electorates contained about twice as many voters as some rural electorates. The ‘imbalance of political power’ was probably a reference to the fact that in 1980 the Country Party had been able to install one of its members as Premier having won 35 of the 82 seats with less than 28 per cent of the vote (Queensland Parliamentary Handbook, 1991: 413). Its share of the vote gave it 43 per cent of the seats and in coalition with the Liberal Party it was able to form Government. It had been able to retain power and dominate the Coalition since 1957. In effect, the newspaper was saying that because ‘a sizeable minority of the population lacked adequate political representation’ there was a special need for the media to take on this representation and be extra vigilant in its watchdog role on behalf of its readers.
An examination of Queensland’s newspapers for the purposes of this thesis revealed that there were frequent references to State Government decisions and to the activities of Government Ministers, Members of Parliament, police and, to a lesser extent, public officials, which indicated that all was not well with the democratic process.
However, it also became apparent in reading through newspaper and Hansard reports of corruption issues spread over 30 years that stories frequently seemed to miss the key point of the issue being reported on. It seemed that a newsworthy side issue or red herring was introduced into the issue being covered, newspaper coverage of the issue was side-tracked, and future editions either failed to focus sufficiently on the key point or never discovered it in the first place.
There are many examples of newspapers mentioning crucial allegations but failing to draw their readers’ attention to the problem by not focussing on the key point of the issue. As an example, the Telegraph only mentioned in the last of 44 paragraphs on November 29, 1976, that acknowledged honest Police Commissioner Ray Whitrod was warning that junior Inspector Terry Lewis was not the best man for the job as his successor. Lewis was appointed Commissioner soon afterwards and was not successfully exposed as corrupt until the Fitzgerald Inquiry, more than 10 years later, by which time corruption had become further entrenched in the State. Another example occurred when The Courier-Mail printed a long story on April 2, 1982, in which it reported that Labor MP Kev Hooper had named Police Commissioner Terry Lewis and Assistant Commissioner Tony Murphy as being crooked. But this revelation was buried 26 paragraphs into a story and was mentioned almost in passing.
At an early stage in researching newspaper reports on matters which appeared to be related to allegations of corruption it appeared that this failure to focus on key points was a common occurrence and that it may have been responsible for readers not being alerted to some of the examples of the corruption flourishing in Queensland during the three decades from 1957 to 1987. The question arose: did media coverage of corruption issues regularly fail to highlight the vital points and therefore fail to draw readers’ attention to problems that needed rectifying? And if it did, what exactly was the coverage to which the media should have aspired?
This thesis argues that the role of watchdog requires more than straightforward news reportage of events. It argues that it is not enough for a newspaper to print a news story containing allegations of corruption or impropriety and believe that it has therefore done its duty. The thesis will argue that if newspapers were to be watchdogs, facts such as those that had been buried deep in stories should have been highlighted as the main points. They should have been focussed on and examined and enlarged and dissected and probed. And the issue should have been developed and turned over in ensuing editions. Leading articles and features should have been written. The problem should have been spelled out.
One whimper is not likely to be enough to alert readers to a problem or deter corrupt activity or achieve some other public benefit. This thesis argues that watch-dog behaviour involves acting in a manner which draws prolonged attention to something that is, or is likely to be, illegal, immoral, unethical, unfair or undemocratic. At its most effective this watchdog behaviour should comprise a determined, focussed, concentrated and prolonged coverage designed to force action in that the offending behaviour ceases, an effective investigation is launched or some other acceptable outcome is achieved.
For example, what was needed in Queensland was the sort of targeted coverage provided by the Washington Post which followed the break-in on June 17, 1972, of the Democratic National Committee offices in the Watergate Building in Washington DC (Woodward and Bernstein, 1974). While other newspapers largely dropped the story after the initial court case, the Post devoted staff to the task of investigating the background to the break-in and court case. The Post developed a strategy for exposing more and more of the conspiracy and continually focussed on key points. It constantly developed the story and put the details into context for readers. The first story, about the Watergate office break-in, appeared on June 18, 1972. Pressure mounted until President Nixon resigned on August 8, 1974, after more than two years of investigative reporting.
In Queensland, The Sun carried out a targeted campaign in late 1988 and early 1989 with a daily update designed to force the resignation of disgraced MP Donald Lane, who had been exposed by the Fitzgerald Inquiry. Its campaign was totally focussed on a key point – forcing the Member’s resignation because, argued the newspaper, he should not continue to draw his salary. Lane wrote (1993: 255) that the editor had seemed to regard it as a personal crusade to drive him from Parliament, with journalists and photographers from The Sun turning up at his office on a daily basis. The pressure became too much for him and he resigned.
The thesis argues that with growing evidence that the Government was prepared to ignore proper or accepted procedures, such strategies were needed in Queensland in the period under examination if the media were intent on fulfilling their obligation under social responsibility theory. Even if such concerted watchdog behaviour had existed it may not have achieved the sort of outcomes outlined but at least the newspapers would have fulfilled their duty to act as a watchdog on behalf of the community.
The question is: did Queensland’s media act in such a way in the three decades under review?
CHAPTER 3 – SCOPE OF THE STUDY
It is argued that it is beyond the scope of this thesis to examine the reportage by cinema newsreels, television channels, radio stations and newspapers of every issue where corruption or other official impropriety may have been alleged in the period of half a century or more covered by the Fitzgerald Inquiry. It is therefore necessary to be selective in order to make available a manageable body of evidence which is of a volume which can be examined by this thesis but which is still representative. It is necessary to choose logical starting and finishing points for the period to be examined.
Fitzgerald (1989: 31) makes it plain that corruption was endemic in Queensland in the years after World War Two when it was accepted in the police force that bribes were a form of semi-official tribute shared between police and Government, and that this corruption continued and grew. The thesis argues that it is reasonable to take as a starting point for its examination of issues the occasion when, in 1957, after 40 years of almost uninterrupted Australian Labor Party Governments, the Country (later National) and Liberal Parties, regained power in a coalition – power that they were to maintain for 32 years. This was a point at which the Government could have chosen to make sweeping reforms or to carry on much as before. One of the new Government's first major decisions was the appointment as Police Commissioner of a detective who it was warned was corrupt, a fact which was confirmed by evidence from former Toowoomba police officer Charles Corner at the Fitzgerald Inquiry. It was under this commissioner, Frank Bischof, that corruption grew, became well organised and started to flourish (Fitzgerald, 1989: 31/32). The period finished with the Fitzgerald Inquiry into Corruption which held its first sittings in June 1987.
Despite narrowing the period to be examined to three decades, it would still be impossible to examine every report compiled by cinema, radio, television and newspapers of issues on a daily or weekly basis. It is doubtful if cinema, radio or television reports for the period are catalogued and available for scrutiny in their entirety. Newspapers, however, usually appear on a daily or weekly basis and it is easy to judge when an issue or a page is missing from records. It is also argued that newspapers on any one day tend to carry more stories, features and backgrounders than cinema newsreels, television or radio stations, thus giving them more space in which to carry out the role of watchdog. It is also likely that if there had been a watchdog campaign mounted by radio, television or newsreel, it would have been mentioned and followed up in at least one of Queensland’s major newspapers. For this reason this thesis limits its examination to the role played by newspapers.
A decision then had to be made about which newspapers could logically and reasonably have been expected to act as watchdogs on behalf of Queenslanders. Although some newspapers, such as The Australian and The Sydney Morning Herald may have covered some of the issues, they could not have been expected to have acted as watchdogs for Queensland readers on Queensland issues, a function which would have required them to devote regular and detailed coverage to issues which would probably have been of less interest to readers in Sydney and elsewhere. At the other end of the spectrum, provincial newspapers in Queensland did not have staff reporters based in Brisbane and depended largely on agency reports for their news of State Parliament and Government activities. These regionally-based newspapers did not have the staff or circulation to pretend to cover State-wide issues. This thesis is therefore concerned with coverage by Queensland's major newspapers, Truth (later the Sunday Truth and Sunday Sun), The Sunday Mail, The Courier-Mail, Telegraph and, after 1982, the Daily Sun. These newspapers all covered State-wide issues and reported on Parliament.
In a search to gain an understanding of the way in which allegations of corruption were treated by newspapers, every issue of Truth, Sunday Truth and the Sunday Sun between 1957 and 1987 was read. Photocopies were taken of every story which appeared to be connected with corruption. To discover what allegations of corruption had been raised in Parliament, every copy of Hansard for the same period was read. Photocopies were taken of every speech or question which appeared to be relevant. Searches were then made for coverage of these issues in the other newspapers.
The examination of every story touching on corruption in the 30 years between 1957 and the start of the Fitzgerald Inquiry is beyond the scope of this thesis. Therefore, a representative sample of the issues involving alleged corruption had to be selected from the large number available and analysed. Selecting several issues from one relatively short period of the three decades under review, and none for several years, may have resulted in a skewed result. For instance, in 1978 the new editor-in-chief of Queensland Newspapers promised more investigative reporting if it appeared the Government did not abide by accepted standards (Boyce, 1980: 5). In an attempt to avoid the possibility of examining periods which might not be representative or which might be unduly affected by particular newspaper personnel and policies, it was decided to spread the issues as evenly as possible throughout the three decades under review.
Other factors were also considered. It would not be reasonable to select issues which had only emerged in the public eye many years after they had developed behind closed doors at a time when there was no obvious way that reporters could have discovered there was something amiss. The Fitzgerald Inquiry revealed a long list of abuses that had occurred in the period under examination but it could be argued that many of them, especially Cabinet decisions or acts of corruption carried out in secret, may never have come to the notice of whistleblowers or journalists at the time. For this reason the thesis has selected issues which were demonstrably available to journalists contemporaneously.
In the 41 pages of his report that are devoted to describing how corruption developed in the years in question, Fitzgerald (1989: 30-70) referred to several pivotal issues which had attracted media attention. A representative selection of these issues has been included. Where distinctions are possible, the thesis seeks to examine a balance between those involving police and those involving Government decisions and senior Government personnel, although these frequently overlapped.
The issues could be further divided into those where the Government ordered no inquiry into the offending behaviour at the centre of the allegations of corruption, and those where an official inquiry was launched. In order to try to establish the part, if any, played by newspapers in prompting the Government to investigate such complaints, the thesis provides analysis of stories in each category.
Finally, it was considered that a spread of 12 issues would fulfil all of the above criteria and would be sufficiently representative to establish whether, after analysis, a clear pattern of reportage emerged. It was also considered that an average gap of 30 months between issues throughout the three decades would provide a regular examination of newspapers’ performance.
This thesis sets out to examine how it was that corruption flourished in Queensland for the three decades leading up to the Fitzgerald Inquiry when under social responsibility theory the media had an obligation to act as a watchdog and will argue that newspapers failed to act as watchdogs according to the criteria developed in this thesis because, by and large, they did not identify and pursue the key points of each issue. To extend the investigation, having discovered what happened, by seeking to find out if there was any particular reason or reasons why they failed in this way would be a very large undertaking. It would be preferable to interview journalists, politicians, public servants and others involved in issues such as those covered in this thesis in an attempt to discover what influences affected media reportage of the issues. Did defamation laws have any effect on coverage? What effects, if any, did relationships between corrupt politicians and police and criminals on the one hand, and journalists on the other, have on newspaper coverage? While it was tempting to extend the scope of the thesis to areas that may have had an influence on the media’s performance during the three decades under review, the task already outlined has produced a work of more than 84,000 words. Others may wish to further explore the failure of newspapers in their watchdog role as defined in this thesis.
It is necessary to define exactly what it is that this thesis sets out to achieve in examining these issues. This thesis seeks to discover the extent to which major newspapers acted as a watchdog in relation to 12 issues on the three decades leading up to the Fitzgerald Inquiry into Corruption of 1987-89. Having argued that watchdog behaviour involved acting in a manner which draws prolonged attention to something that is, or is likely to be, illegal, immoral, unethical, unfair or undemocratic, and that, at its most effective this watchdog behaviour should comprise a determined, focussed, concentrated and prolonged coverage designed to force action in that the offending behaviour ceases, an effective investigation is launched or some other acceptable outcome is achieved, this thesis sets out to measure to what degree this was achieved.
CHAPTER 4 – LITERATURE REVIEW
The literature review revealed evidence that there had been many allegations that members of the Queensland Police and Queensland Government had been involved in corrupt behaviour since the Second World War and that newspapers and other media had either carried news of these allegations or had been aware of them. However, it appeared that newspapers had failed to draw attention to these transgressions in such a way that the behaviour was modified or stopped. Indeed, Charlton (1983: 111) recounted how in 1982, when the ABC television program Four Corners looked at possible corruption in Queensland politics, it collected a number of facts and statements together in a hard-hitting and incisive criticism of politics in the deep north. Charlton complained:
Yet virtually each one of those facts, and almost all of the statements, had been published in one form or another by newspapers in Brisbane. It was left to Four Corners to collect other people's efforts and pull them together in the one program.
The telling point here is that it was left to the ABC to do something with the information. The newspapers had merely published stories. The information had not been fashioned into a weapon with which to attack the government in watchdog fashion. This is precisely the point this thesis is seeking to make; that there is a world of difference between the mere passive reporting of events and intervening in a pro-active way to act as a watchdog. Wells (1979: 48), in suggesting that the list of Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen's various abuses of power, misappropriations of government funds for party political purposes, and misuses of public instrumentalities, was endless, said: "If the reader wishes to pursue further studies of these abuses, they are widely reported in all major newspapers. It is all perfectly open and below board."
The abuses may have been widely reported in that all major newspapers mentioned them but it is argued that, as in the ABC television Nationwide expose of 1982, they did not appear to have been the subject of in-depth investigative reporting to the point where such behaviour was influenced, curtailed or stopped. The literature review provides ample material referring to corruption in the Queensland political system.
In particular, the two-year Fitzgerald Inquiry into corruption in Queensland resulted in the comprehensive Report of a Commission of Inquiry Pursuant to Orders in Council (Fitzgerald, 1989), known widely as the Fitzgerald Report. It established (30/31) a pattern of corruption in Queensland’s public institutions that had been rife for decades.
Literature was searched for references to corruption on the premise that it is essential to establish that corruption did exist before it can be argued that newspapers should have exposed it. Publications were also searched for references to corrupt activity that occurred in the period between 1957 and 1987 and which would have been available to journalists at the time. The review also set out to discover what attempts newspapers had made to investigate and expose corruption, and the results of those attempts. And finally, a search was made to discover if there had been any previous attempts to analyse how corruption had become endemic in Queensland public life when newspapers had a duty under social responsibility theory to act as watchdogs.
Establishing that corruption existed
Some publications covering Queensland’s history after the Second World War do not dwell on the political excesses and corruption that Fitzgerald (1989) found to be endemic in the State or on the performance of the media. For example, R Fitzgerald’s A History of Queensland from 1915 to the 1980s contained only one reference to The Courier-Mail. The Telegraph, Sunday Sun and The Sunday Mail were not mentioned and the dawning of the Daily Sun was mentioned only in passing. There was no mention of corruption in the index.
However, The Fitzgerald Report (1989: 30/31) said that successive Governments and their departments had either failed to eradicate corruption or ignored it or even condoned it. In the late 1940s and early 1950s police officers believed that politicians and selected police received graft to protect prostitution, illegal starting-price (SP) bookmaking and illegal liquor sales. Corruption had reached a ‘quaint quasi-legitimacy’ by the time Frank Bischof was appointed Police Commissioner by the Country-Liberal Coalition Government which won power in 1957. Dickie (1988: 26) told virtually the same story and also named detectives Tony Murphy, Glen detectives and Terence Lewis as being the ‘rat pack’ of corrupt police. The Fitzgerald Report continued (1989: 32) by saying that by 1959 corruption in the section of the force that policed prostitution, liquor licensing and illegal betting was taken for granted. The misconduct was long-standing and deep-seated.
From then on corruption became more and more refined and powerful to the point where it affected many important and far-reaching government decisions. It was so bad that (Fitzgerald, 1989: 30):
Police corruption was common knowledge, particularly among police, and there was a general acceptance that nothing could be done because police, police union officials and politicians were either involved or would resent the adverse publicity which would result if the problem were brought into the open.
As disposable incomes grew and political support was given to the police, corruption flourished. Fitzgerald (1989) spent more than 40 pages telling the story of how police corruption developed through the three decades leading up to the inquiry, which started in 1987. By 1989 Evan Whitton was able to write as the opening of the preface to "Can of Worms": "It has been said, and not entirely in jest, that Sydney is the most corrupt city in the western world, except of course for Newark, New Jersey, and Brisbane, Queensland."
In an examination of the premiership of Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen, who held the office from 1968 to 1987, Walter (1990: 502) argued that the Premier had refused to allow an investigation of his Police Force while throughout this period there was ‘increasing evidence of a subversion of Westminster principles and corruption in public life'.
If police corruption was common knowledge, as stated by Fitzgerald, it is logical to conclude that reporters whose jobs involved constant contact with public figures should have been aware of examples of this corruption and drawn it to readers’ attention.
Establishing the fact that corruption had been a fact of life in Queensland before 1957 is important to the basic premise of this thesis in that, if corruption had been endemic, whispers, gossip, leaks and complaints about corruption should have reached the eyes and ears of the media by the time the coalition took power in 1957. If corruption had not been endemic before 1957, it could well be argued that as a new phenomenon it would have taken time to become a feature of the police service and of government. If this had been the case, it would be difficult to estimate a date at which the media should have become aware of the corruption. However, Lack (1961: 478) revealed evidence of alleged corrupt behaviour from the Labor Government of 1956 and 1957, and noted that the Telegraph had mentioned this behaviour.
Evidence available between 1957-87
The literature reveals a range of cases of corruption which would have been available to journalists during the period between 1957 and 1987.
James (1974) examined the effectiveness of the 1963/64 National Hotel Royal Commission into allegations that the Police Commissioner had encouraged and condoned a call girl service at the hotel. He revealed that the inquiry had been deeply flawed and should have established that corruption had stretched right to the top of the police force. In particular, he cast severe doubts on the integrity of Detective Tony Murphy, an officer who between 1976 and 1982 became an assistant commissioner of police. He wrote in his introduction: "It does not take long in discussions with Brisbane people to find out that the activities which formed the subject of the enquiry were common knowledge at the time." The book leaves readers in no doubt that the Police Force had been riddled with corruption at the time of the inquiry and that nothing had been done to cleanse it. It begs the question: why had the government taken no action?
In 1969 the Opposition alleged that Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen had made 'fabulous wealth' from a shady oil exploration deal (Reid 1971: 33). Opposition Leader Jack Houston had said: "There can be no doubt that in entering into this agreement, the Premier undertook as his part of the deal to deceive the Mines Minister - his former partner..." (Lunn: 1978:74)
Procter (1985:165) presented a survey from 1969 which suggested a public awareness of police malpractice. It had found that only 56 per cent of Queenslanders had great respect for their police. This compared with a total of 76 per cent of South Australians having a great respect for their police. Procter concluded that the Queensland Police Force moved into the 1970s saddled with problems of corruption which were clearly discernible to the electorate.
A row broke out in 1970 about Cabinet Ministers receiving large volumes of Comalco shares. Premier Bjelke-Petersen had denied having accepted any - only to admit later that the name Bjelke-Petersen did appear on the list of beneficiaries of shares through his wife. Lunn (1978: 78) and McQueen (1982: 108) also referred to the Comalco share scandal, with McQueen pointing out that the Premier's own party had passed what amounted to a censure motion of him. Walter and Dickie (1985: 34) summed it up:
Recurrent rumblings about Bjelke-Petersen's private shareholdings and business interests and his public duties came to a head when there were questions about his family's shareholdings in the aluminium company Comalco in conjunction with the revelation that a number of conservative politicians had taken advantage of a preferential share issue by that company.
Walter and Dickie reported that when members of his own party had urged him to step down Bjelke-Petersen had won the internal power battle and had never been challenged after that. They said Bjelke-Petersen refused to bow to expectations concerning a public figure's duty to be seen to avoid conflicts of interest between his private affairs and his public obligations.
In 1975 allegations of corruption connected with a starting price betting court case had led to groups as diverse as the Bar Association, the Council for Civil Liberties and the Police Union suggesting the need for a judicial inquiry (Hughes, 1980: 168). The Premier had at first indicated that the Government would consider that possibility. Then Police Minister Max Hodges had announced the appointment of two Scotland Yard detectives to conduct an internal investigation into the Police Force to determine whether a Royal Commission or a judicial inquiry was necessary. Another Minister, Russell Hinze, had complained that some massage parlours were brothels and alleged police corruption in their operation. At the end of 1976 the Government had finally announced there would be a judicial inquiry - but not into allegations of corruption or malpractice.
The announcement followed the 1975 sacking of reformist Police Minister Max Hodges by the Premier which Hughes (1980: 169) stated was an odd precedent in that it was the only instance of a minister being removed on the grounds of ineffectiveness in 20 years under Premier Bjelke-Petersen. The removal of Police Minister Hodges made it possible for Ray Whitrod, the equally reformist and honest police commissioner, to be pushed out. Brennan (1983: 187) recounted how Police Commissioner Whitrod revealed in 1976 that political interference with his responsibility had reached the stage where he was no longer in command of the force. Walter and Dickie (1985: 39) wrote that Premier Bjelke-Petersen had refused to allow investigation into the police force, leading to Police Commissioner Whitrod's resignation in 1976 with complaints that his efforts to investigate such matters had been frustrated by government interference.
Wells (1979: 40) told how accusations of a cover-up arose in April 1977 when Premier Bjelke-Petersen refused to table in Parliament the report by the Scotland Yard detectives who had been investigating corruption in the Queensland police force, with the Premier saying: "I don't think this is necessary. This is a report to the government." Lunn (1978: 252) drew attention to the fact that the Premier had refused to release any details of the Scotland Yard Inquiry into such matters as a $50 million starting price betting racket and 'crime bosses allegedly bribing police and quashing prosecutions'. Procter (1985: 170) recounted how the report had never been made public and (1985: 179) alleged that the government had publicly done as little as possible about the problem of corruption. The Premier had failed to address charges of corruption and his refusal to make public the contents of the Scotland Yard report had 'caused considerable disquiet'.
By 1977, noted Whip et al (1980: 81): "Bjelke-Petersen...was frequently under attack because of his share dealings..." Ten per cent of National voters, 19 per cent of Liberal voters and 66 per cent of Labor voters did not think Bjelke-Petersen was honest (p84). The following year the Auditor-General reported that in his opinion 23 Members of Parliament had misused Government funds, probably deliberately.
Examples of corrupt activity from other Ministers and senior levels of the Police Force also appeared in the literature. Prominent among the names was Russ Hinze, a Minister in Bjelke-Petersen’s Cabinet. McQueen (1982: 121) told how, as director of a company, Hinze wrote to Albert Shire Council, where he had been a member and chairman for 15 years, asking it to rezone some of his land as a quarry. The shire council asked Minister Russ Hinze for permission to do so. Permission was granted.
By 1982 Russ Hinze had also become the Police Minister. Procter (1985: 177) recalled: "The police corruption issue did surface again in 1982 with allegations by one former and one serving policeman involving senior police officers. Police Minister Hinze reacted in his familiar aggressive and emotional style, accusing the two officers of attempting to 'smear the force'. This contrasted markedly with the analytical and investigative style of the Hodges-Whitrod years and appeared to signal that the government was not concerned with police corruption as an issue with which it needed to deal."
Procter (1985: 165) also reported how The Courier-Mail carried former Liberal Cabinet Minister Sir Thomas Hiley's revelations in September 1982 that former Police Commissioner Frank Bischof had been corrupt and that Sir Thomas considered that Bischof's example may still be white-anting some levels of the police force.
Smith, P. (1985: 28) said Queenslanders had tolerated successive governments which had misused power and public funds. Walter and Dickie (1985: 38) said: "Bjelke-Petersen has far-reaching and diverse business interests. Over the years there has been a litany of allegations concerning the manner in which government decisions and policies have been said to serve those business interests and so to benefit Bjelke-Petersen or members of his family."
Most of these books were not published immediately after the incidents referred to so they could not have acted as a trigger for contemporaneous exposure by newspapers. However, most of the ministers were still in power at the time of publication and the issues were still open to investigation. More importantly, it could also be argued that as each book was published, it was becoming increasingly evident that the Government led by Bjelke-Petersen was not behaving in a fit and proper manner and that there was no sign of it changing its attitudes..
The media’s performance
What attempts had newspapers made to investigate and expose corruption? This section of the literature review examines criticism of, and verdicts on, the performance of the media in general and Queensland's newspapers in particular, in reporting on political excesses and alleged corruption during the period being examined. It also notes any references which have a bearing on the thesis. It discovered that the majority of references to the role of Queensland newspapers in dealing with issues of this kind were not complimentary.
Various reasons have been given for the media’s ineffectiveness in this period. Grundy (1990: 28) said the fear of writs had been a problem in Queensland but Dickie (1990: 56) said categorically: “Defamation actions do not prohibit investigative journalism as is sometimes supposed but they do inhibit it, probably for proprietors more than journalists.”
Fitzgerald (1989:141) had some damning criticism to make:
Unfortunately, it is also true that parts of the media in this State have over the years contributed to a climate in which misconduct has flourished. Fitting in with the system and associating with and developing a mutual interdependence with those in power have had obvious benefits.
Charlton (1983: 109) had touched on this mutual interdependence as being one possible reason for a lack of critical stories from some quarters. Interdependence was the subject of research carried out by true (1977) into the relationship between crime reporters and their police contacts. Charlton found that the reporters needed to socialise with their contacts in order to obtain stories and tended to become part of the police culture. Charlton maintained that political roundsmen, who must maintain contact with ministers and their mouthpieces daily, cannot afford the luxury of disagreements with them. And Peter Manning, a former leading investigative journalist, was quoted by Schultz (1994: 47) saying that too many reporters had become too close to the main proponents in areas such as politics and police rounds and found it easier to go with the flow. Orr (1994: 97/8) said that Fitzgerald had found the media’s lack of a critical perspective partially culpable for the corruption and maladministration and summed up: "Eventually he concluded that parts of the media had not only been too close to government during the Bjelke-Petersen era, but had contributed to a climate in which misconduct flourished."
Fitzgerald himself said (1989: 142) that if the perspective taken serves the purpose of the source, then true independence is lost…"and with it the right to the special privileges and considerations which are usually claimed by the media because of its claimed independence and “watchdog” role. If the independence and the role are lost, so is the claim to special consideration."
It might be argued that the media in other jurisdictions established close relationships with politicians, senior public servants and media advisors but that this did not lead to corruption growing and becoming endemic and did not prevent media in those other jurisdictions acting successfully as watchdogs when necessary,
Orr (1994: 95) said observers had concluded that Brisbane’s media failed to tell the full story. There have been allegations of bias against The Courier-Mail, the newspaper Wallace perceived to be the agenda setter when it came to deciding which issues were to become the main stories of the day (1980: 207). The Labor Opposition had been given no opportunities for coverage comparable with the ALP in other states, said McQueen (1982: 108) because The Courier-Mail ‘criticised Bjelke-Petersen only to support his Liberal subordinates in the Coalition’. Hughes (1980: 309) said: "The editorial predisposition of The Courier-Mail, the flagship of that armada, normally corresponds to the coalitionist wing of the Liberal Party: the first priority is to keep the Labor Party out, and the alliance with the National/Country Party should not be jeopardised by attempting to win majority status within the coalition for the Liberal Party..."
Orr (1994: 102) said the conservative bias was so entrenched that the paper had not supported a Labor Government editorially since its foundation in 1842. On the subject of a Liberal ginger group and the possibility of a split in the Coalition parties, Hughes (1970: 47) said: "The Brisbane Courier-Mail reduces controversy as much as it can..." Grundy (1990: 33) said that a Queensland culture where it was unpatriotic to criticise the State produced a most unhealthy situation where the Opposition was treated very badly by the media.
McQueen (1982: 108) points out that Bjelke-Petersen's press secretary, Allen Callaghan, was able to manufacture an image of the Premier in the media by managing the journalists rather than the news. "The success of Callaghan measured the weakness of the Queensland media," wrote McQueen, who added that Callaghan had been assisted by an 'abnormally high' concentration of media ownership. McQueen noted how both Brisbane dailies that existed at the time(The Courier-Mail and the Telegraph) were owned, along with various radio and television stations, by the Herald and Weekly Times, a fact that had been emphasised two years earlier by Hughes (1980: 309) and Wallace (1980: 207). Wallace believed that the ‘profound lack of competition was a large contributor to the apathy that seemed to affect much of the system (1980:206). He went on to say (1980: 208): "The further one gets from the centre of state politics, the more one is aware that there is no healthy babble of voices. The preconditions of pluralistic democracy hardly seem to be satisfied. Essentially, there is a handful of journalists whose performance defines the norms of reporting state politics in Queensland. Their performances and non-performances are of considerable importance."
In 1982 the Herald and Weekly Times monopoly on daily newspapers in Brisbane was broken when the Daily Sun was launched. Charlton (1983: 113) was not impressed. He criticises the Daily Sun, saying that in the great tradition of Murdoch papers, buxom ladies and racing details were more important than politics and it had been a "fairly consistent supporter of the Queensland government".
There is an argument that it was not merely the concentrated ownership that led to a lack of criticism but also a lack of specialist journalists. Wallace (1980: 219) quoted a 1973 thesis The Government's Voice: a Study of Government Publicity and Information Services by White, B(sic) in which White cites The Courier-Mail support for Bjelke-Petersen whenever 'the chips are down'. The thesis, by D S White, revealed that 65 per cent of government-employed journalists and 68 per cent of political reporters did not believe there were enough journalists employed on government and political rounds to provide an adequate coverage. In Brisbane the government round was normally covered by no more than six reporters. Four of the six said they did not have the full access to sources that they needed.
This lack of numbers was also commented on by Wallace (1980: 227) who said: “For what appears to be largely resource reasons, Queensland’s news media have little capacity to do other than a routine performance in their surveillance of the Queensland environment” Grundy (1990:34) said some worthwhile stories were not followed up purely on the grounds that they had been broken by another organisation.
Boyce (1980: 1) noted: “the apparent acquiescence of so many Queenslanders in the gradual erosion of some traditional features of responsible parliamentary government”. And he pointed out (1980: 5) that the virtual demolition of the Opposition in 1974 had meant the media’s surveillance of Government had assumed a critical importance. “John Wallace has found the Queensland media wanting in this respect,” he said.
There were complaints that Premier Bjelke-Petersen was not being taken to task by the media. Procter (1985: 179) accused:
Although there have been editorial complaints from the press there has been a lack of strong investigative journalism in Queensland. This may be one reason why the Premier has been able to avoid having to answer some of the worst charges of corruption and malpractice in the Police Force.
Walter and Dickie (1985: 37) quote Opposition leader Keith Wright as saying that Bjelke-Petersen never answered questions put to him and that: "...the media let him get away with it...They never bother to question him - he won't answer them anyway - but they never take him on."
Journalist Charlton (1983: 115) referred to Bjelke-Petersen calling his press conferences 'feeding the chooks' and complains it was impossible to pin Bjelke-Petersen down. He had simply refused to answer any question that he did not want to and had persistently refused to entertain any suggestion that the Queensland Police Force was corrupt, despite several notable examples being provided. Perhaps it was impossible to pin him down, but it was still possible to attack him and the corruption that he enabled to exist.
Yet it appears from the literature reviewed that the media had failed to act successfully as a watchdog. Coaldrake (1989:98) blames this on a “docile media” where only the ABC had consistently been critical of the Government. James complained in his 1974 introduction that there had been a general lack of critical journalism at the time of the National Hotel Royal Commission into alleged police involvement in prostitution at the hotel in 1963/64. There had been a lack of response by the media to the allegations which had led to the inquiry. And afterwards there had been a precis in one day's papers followed by silence.
There was little in the way of positive comments about the way in which the media had reported Queensland politics. Procter (1985: 179) said that The Courier-Mail editorials repeatedly criticised the Premier in 1976 and 1977 for evasion, use of delaying tactics and interference - particularly for his failure to make available to the public reports of inquiries into police corruption and misuse of powers. But Procter gives no further details, analysis or dates. Three books suggested that 1978 had brought hope of improvement in the reporting of politics and alleged corruption in Queensland. Hughes (1980: 309) said that in the late 1970s The Courier-Mail became more willing to criticise the Premier and the National party, but said it was difficult to assess how far that was a response to increased pressure on the Liberal Party and its leadership from its ally, and how far it reflected concern at the direction in which the premier was taking Queensland. It was Hughes’ view that The Courier-Mail was aligned with the Liberal Party and, presumably, Hughes was suggesting that the newspaper was criticising the National Party because it was putting pressure on its Liberal Coalition colleagues.
Without giving examples, Fitzgerald (1989: 141) said that the media had played a [art in exposing corruption and he acknowledged that two media organisations had contributed to the creation of the Fitzgerald Inquiry. But he seemed unconvinced of any lasting benefits of such exposes. He mused (1989: 69) that after The Courier-Mail had revealed in January 1987 that policing of gaming and prostitution was not efficient and that two syndicates ran numerous brothels:
Quite possibly the matter would have rested there. Previous media exposes and Ministers’ inquiries had been adeptly handled over the years.
This suggested that he regarded the media as having been ineffectual in any attempts to act as a watchdog seeking to obtain change.
Boyce (1980: 5) suggested that there was hope that Queensland Newspapers, publisher of The Courier-Mail, The Sunday Mail and the Telegraph, would lift its game. It appeared that Harry Gordon, appointed editor-in-chief in 1978, had recognised a shortfall in standards by promising more investigative reporting and a more thoroughgoing criticism of government should it try to manipulate or side-track the accepted procedures of the Westminster system. Charlton was defensive about the Queensland media's abilities and record and it would appear that in Charlton's eyes, also, there had been failures prior to 1978. But he wrote (1983: 110): "The reporting of Queensland politics has become rather more critical in the last five years. Previously, if there was a tendency to accept press releases without question...that has largely disappeared - at least for print journalists."
After criticising the rival Daily Sun, Charlton (1983:113) praised Queensland Newspapers as having been a fairly consistent critic of the government, devoting increased resources to investigative journalism - but without spectacular success. Charlton did not explain why, with such fertile fields to investigate, Queensland Newspapers had been unable to achieve such success.
Fitzgerald (1989) made reference to several pivotal issues that had emerged in the media. There had been a trial in 1975 involving alleged illegal bookmakers which became known as the Southport Betting Case. The Premier had earlier promised an inquiry into corrupt police activities. Fitzgerald recorded (1989: 40) that before the Southport Betting Case had been completed
there was pressure for an inquiry into police behaviour, particularly from the media and the legal profession, which had long been frustrated by police attitudes and practices and its own ability to raise the level of concern of politicians and the general community.
This suggested that the media had tried and failed to obtain an inquiry due to public apathy. This suggestion is examined by this thesis.
In December 1984 The Courier-Mail carried allegations of male prostitution which, said Fitzgerald, led to the establishment of the Sturgess Inquiry into Sexual Offences Involving Children and Related Matters (1989: 68).
In March 1982 ABC television’s Nationwide carried the stories of two former police officers who gave detailed allegations of police corruption at a very high level (Fitzgerald 1989: 76). He recorded (1989: 34) how it was another ABC television current affairs program, This Day Tonight, which, in June 1971, provided the platform for prostitute Shirley Brifman to admit she had given perjured evidence to the National Hotel Royal Commission of 1963/64 to protect corrupt police officers. But James complained in his introduction that after Brifman had admitted to having committed perjury at the inquiry and to paying money to every member of the vice squad, there had been little reaction in the press. Dickie examined this lack of reaction to Brifman’s revelations and reported that two accused police officers, Glen Patrick Hallahan and Tony Murphy, used The Courier-Mail as a forum to deny all the allegations. (In 1988 it was the Daily Sun which gave Murphy a platform for him to supply his version of why his name kept on cropping up in the wrong places (Dickie 1988: 62)).
Tony Murphy, the detective against whom many allegations were made at the Fitzgerald Inquiry, used the media again in 1978. Dickie (1988: 62) reported how the two Sunday newspapers had aided him: "Murphy was then under some pressure, with Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen wanting to replace him as the head of the CIB with former Whitrod man Inspector Basil Hicks. In an article in The Sunday Mail he claimed credit for the Anoa drug bust and in the Sunday Sun, in the wake of the Wilson revelations, the Queensland police were credited with smashing "a $160 million heroin gang". Both claims were nonsense: federal and New South Wales authorities were responsible for the Anoa bust an no member of the Mr Asia gang had ever been or ever was convicted of a drug offence by the Queensland Police."
These were not isolated incidents according to Fitzgerald (1989: 53): "An article appeared in the Sunday Sun newspaper on the weekend of 24 September 1978, giving its source as an anonymous Licensing Branch 'spokesman'. The article severely criticised the Branch (and therefore of course its head, Jeppesen) for alleged over-concentration on prostitution and SP bookmaking at the expense of proper attention to illegal liquor sales, especially to underage drinkers, and the supply of drugs in hotels to minors as well as others. Merely by way of passing comment, it might be observed that precisely the same tactic is still routinely employed by corrupt police officers and their journalistic contacts, who regularly abuse the freedom of the press to spread false and malicious rumours and allegations for ulterior purposes."
In March 1979, said Fitzgerald (1989:76) Detective Tony Murphy told a journalist (Sunday Sun police roundsman Brian Bolton) that two couriers for the ‘Mr Asia’ drug syndicate, a married couple named Wilson, had been secretly tape-recorded by Queensland Police. Bolton wrote a story about the tape recordings in the Sunday Sun. A month later, in April 1979, the Wilsons were murdered in Victoria. The Stewart Royal Commission into illegal drugs found that the disclosure had been foolish because the article contained sufficient material to confirm to ‘a suspicious and vengeful’ Terrence John Clark, the syndicate’s head, that the Wilsons had definitely informed on him.
There are references to newspapers and television programs produced outside Queensland making an impact on the State political scene. Hughes (1980: 11) resorted to an editorial from an out-of-State newspaper, The Australian Financial Review of April 26, 1978, for this summary of Queensland: "We have a State Premier, supported in power by an electoral gerrymander, a pusillanimous coalition partner and an intimidated governing party, riding roughshod over all the conventions of mature, clean, open and rational government. From the pressured retirement of a Police Commissioner to the location of choice coal leases to foreign investments without public tender and charges in Parliament of personal gain, Mr Johannes Bjelke-Petersen remains unfazed and unchallenged."
The literature review has outlined how a systematic and far-reaching commission of inquiry established a pattern of corruption in Queensland’s public institutions. However, the inquiry’s terms of reference precluded it from specifically addressing whether the media might have contributed to the situation. Other literature examined indicates that the media may have been at fault by failing to highlight examples of political and administrative failings as required by social responsibility theory. Authors cite various reasons for these failings, including an over-familiarity with, or over-reliance on, sources; the particular approach of Queensland Newspapers to political coverage; and the high concentration of newspaper ownership. However, in the absence of detailed empirical work, no firm conclusions can be reached.
This thesis seeks to set the stage for these suggestions and others to be tested by providing an empirical foundation for the contention that the Queensland media did fail to live up to the goals of social responsibility theory. It does this in two ways: firstly, through establishing precisely what type of coverage was provided; and secondly, through providing a mechanism by which this coverage might be measured against social responsibility theory.
CHAPTER 5 - THEORY
(Pages omitted)
Defining watchdog behaviour
This thesis argues that it is necessary to develop social responsibility theory to enable it to be applied to an examination of specific settings. In order for this thesis to determine what evidence there is of Queensland newspapers acting as a watchdog it is necessary to determine what constitutes watchdog behaviour under social responsibility theory, and then to develop an appropriate set of criteria against which coverage can be measured.
In developing social responsibility theory, Peterson defined watchdog behaviour (1956: 74) as acting on behalf of the public to protect them from government excesses and corruption. This would mean he envisaged watchdog behaviour as comprising more than merely reporting the facts and then doing nothing more if the offending behaviour continued. Using his definition, watchdog behaviour entails going beyond the mere reporting of events: it necessitates being pro-active in order to be effective.
This thesis argues that in order to safeguard people's rights a newspaper needs to adopt a watchdog mode that comprises a determined, focussed and, if necessary, prolonged coverage of something that is, or is likely to be, illegal, immoral, unethical, unfair or undemocratic, and that, at its most effective, this watchdog behaviour should attempt to bring about the cessation of the offending behaviour, the launch of an effective investigation, or some other positiv result.
An analysis of stories contained in this thesis confirms that mere coverage of an issue does not necessarily amount to the newspaper acting as a watchdog. As Wells said (1979: 48)
If the reader wishes to pursue further studies of these abuses, they are widely reported in all major newspapers.
The abuses may have been widely reported but the thesis draws a distinction between a newspaper acting in a reporting role and acting in a watchdog role. The differentiation is between passive reporting and active investigation. A newspaper in passive, reporting role, as evidenced in many of the issues examined by this thesis, will merely report on the events and what was said each day. The thesis argues that the practical application of the theory in relation to watchdog behaviour requires a newspaper to be proactive on behalf of the public so that it can reveal what may have been hidden. It further argues that any effective campaign cannot take place until a newspaper has analysed the issue and worked out what questions need to be asked to uncover the key point at the heart of the issue. Not until this key point has been identified can a logical, well-ordered investigation begin so that there is a systematic quest to reveal any abuse of proper procedure. Indeed, the crus of this thesis is that it is essential for a newspaper intent on acting as a watchdog to identify the key point or points of an issue and to focus its coverage on that point or points if it is to operate as a watchdog. As a simple example, a Minister may answer a question in parliament. One newspaper may carry a well-written and accurate report on the question and answer. A second newspaper which has researched the issue may point out to readers that the most important point about the answer was what was not said. It will then focus its coverage on this omission.
It is also argued that when a newspaper acts in a passive, reporting role, the point which should be the focus of the story can be lost in the depths of the copy, as with the examples of the Telegraph on November 29, 1976, when the key point appeared in the last of 44 paragraphs, and The Courier-Mail of April 2, 1982, when the key point was buried 26 paragraphs in a page three story headlined ‘Police chief admits ‘help’ for Lyons’ and was mentioned almost in passing. Unless a newspaper has analysed an issue and worked out what the key point is, any attempt to act as a watchdog may be doomed to failure. The Sturgess controversy, which is examined later in this thesis, is an example of a failure to identify a key point. There was an allegation that the Police Commissioner had been aware for two years of complaints that a police constable engaged in public relations work with youngsters was a paedophile but that the Commissioner had done nothing to intervene. Newspapers failed to concentrate on this allegation and were side-tracked instead into reporting on other developments. The focus never returned to the Commissioner’s alleged complicity.
The thesis argues that the process of active investigation is most important; that fulfilling the role of watchdog necessitates an attempt to affect the behaviour being exposed. This attempt might involve action as simple as one expose or as complex as a concerted campaign, with a newspaper using many of its editorial resources in watchdog mode. The campaign might include: a series of stories each focussed on the key point; interviews with critics of the corrupt behaviour; publication of incriminatory documents and other revealing evidence; features on similar developments in other jurisdictions; the identities involved; what the relevant law involves; and many other devices designed to effect change. Cartoonists can often imply what a writer can never get away with and columnists are free, within the law of defamation, to add their comments to the facts. Leading articles can lucidly draw facts, figures, quotes and other evidence together and can also snarl, warn and demand action to ensure that the reader is made aware of exactly what is at stake.
Although many authors have highlighted the importance of the watchdog role, their writings provide no method by which this might be measured. In order to enable this thesis to measure the degree to which newspapers fulfilled their obligation under social responsibility theory to act as a watchdog, it is necessary to develop a set of criteria which set out a series of actions which this thesis argues demonstrate varying levels of commitment to the task of acting as a watchdog seeking to draw the attention of the public to corrupt behaviour and to bring about a positive change to that behaviour. The criteria are set out in ascending order of involvement, dedication, intensity and complexity, starting with publication of just one story to a full-blown and lengthy campaign. In setting out seven criteria, it is suggested that in some simple cases a newspaper might only need to fulfil the first of the criteria in order to act as a watchdog. One story with the right focus, might be sufficient for offending behaviour to be stopped or prevented; for a successful prosecution to be launched; or for some other desired outcome to be achieved. In other cases it might be necessary for a newspaper to fulfil two or three of the criteria to achieve the desired result, and so on. No doubt there might be cases where even after matching all seven of the criteria a newspaper will still fail to achieve a positive outcome but, nevertheless, it would certainly have acted as a watchdog.
The thesis argues that the following seven criteria constitute a logical progression of how a newspaper might seek to act as a watchdog, starting with the kind of story outlined in criterion one and bringing increased pressure to bear in order to achieve a positive outcome:
1. Clearly identify and highlight a, or the, key point which is either
the crux of the issue or which goes to the very heart of the issue by making the point the focus of the story;
2. Make this key point the subject of an editorial that does not merely reiterste the story and make motherhood statements about outcomes but interprets the facts surrounding the key point and, where relevant, demands action;
3. Focus on the key point, or at least remind readers of this point, by featuring it prominently and frequently as the key point in follow-up stories in future editions,
4. Enlarge, explore, dissect and develop the circumstances, origin, history, motivations and identities involved in this key point in order to further explain its importance and relevance in a feature, backgrounder or column;
5. Develop and widen coverage of the key point by carrying stories in which answers, opinions and interviews regarding the key point are sought from people such as Opposition Members of Parliament, academics and organisations with an interest in, or affected by, the issue, as well as those directly involved at the heart of the controversy;
6. Keep the key point in the public eye by publishing on a frequent and regular basis, stories, columns, features, backgrounders, editorials, cartoons and letters;
7. Make it clear to readers that the newspaper is acting as a watchdog by such devices as giving the campaign a 'label', announcing what the objectives of the campaign are and announcing that pressure will be maintained until the stated goals are achieved.
The object of performing in this way is to intervene in order to expose any corruption of proper process and to secure some positive outcome in regard to that remind. The thesis argues that this list provides an adequate standard against which to measure the watchdog performance of a publication.
CHAPTER 6 - METHODOLOGY
This section sets out the texts to be examined, how and why they were selected, and the process involved in analysing them.
The thesis has already set out the basis for selecting the subject matter, or issues, for examination. In summary they are:
1. Evidence that the subject matter was available contemporaneously to the me dia
2. An allegation of corruption involving police;
3. An allegation of corruption involving senior Government figures;
4. An issue resulting in an official inquiry being promised or held;
5. The necessity for a 'spread' of issues over the entire period.
After an examination of newspapers, including a thorough reading of every Sunday Sun, and scrutiny of Hansard between 1957 and 1987, 12 issues were selected for examination. The first occurred in 1957 and the last in 1984. The average gap between issues is 30 months and the longest is four years. The selection criteria involved in each issue are included in the following list.
1 The statement (Hansard, 1957: 747) by new Police Minister Tom Morris in Parliament on October 31, 1957, less than three months after the Liberal-National Party Coalition had won Government on August 3 after many years of corruption under a Labor Government, that: "Ministers of the Crown have quite willingly agreed with me that the Police Force is one that must not under any consideration be influenced politically. Far be it from me to go into the years gone by; hon. members opposite know better than I. I do not intend to go witch-hunting over the period prior to August 3."
Selection criteria: 1,2,3,5.
2 The ousting of Police Commissioner Tom Harold on grounds of ill health and the appointment of corrupt detective Frank Bischof in his place by Cabinet in 1958. This issue is of particular interest because there were grounds for suspecting that the process was tainted and because the decision would have such far-reaching consequences on the development of long-term corruption. Selection criteria: 1,2,3,5.
3 Allegations in March 1962 of serious ministerial impropriety in that Minister Ernie Evans had used confidential departmental information to buy shares in an oil company at 11s each shortly before the company discovered oil at a drilling site. The shares rose quickly in value to six pounds 15s each.
Selection criteria: 1,3,5.
4 The 1963/64 National Hotel Royal Commission which investigated an allegation by Labor MP Colin Bennett that Police Commissioner Frank Bischof and senior police were involved in a call girl operation at the hotel.
Selection criteria: 1,2,3,4,5..
5 The allegation on October 1, 1967, by trade union official Jack Egerton, that there had been $80,000 on a gaming table at an illegal casino's opening night on the Gold Coast, attended by prominent people who had arrived in a cavalcade of cars. The allegation suggested 'prominent people' considered it safe and desirable to attend an illegal function and presumably believed they would not face arrest and were therefore above the law. Selection criteria: 1,2,5.
6 The 1969 allegation by Opposition leader Jack Houston that Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen had made fabulous wealth by devious means involving an oil exploration permit and shares. Selection criteria: 1,3,5
7 The admission by prostitute Shirley Brifman on the ABC current affairs television program This Day Tonight in June 1971 that she had given perjured evidence to the National Hotel Inquiry on behalf of corrupt police officers. This admission should have given the media an ideal opportunity to probe the revelation's implications and to press for a further inquiry into corruption. Selection criteria: 1,2,5.
8 Disciplinary action in 1974 against several of the most important figures in Queensland trotting and allegations against the sport's board's chairman which, unusually, prompted concern from both sides of Parliament.
Selection criteria: 1,3,5.
9 The appointment in 1976 of junior police officer Terry Lewis as Police Commissioner. This event had a major bearing on the development of corruption and there is evidence that Lewis' reputation as a former bagman was known or suspected. This issue overlapped with a change of heart by Premier Bjelke-Petersen on his 1975 promise of an inquiry into police corruption over which he had prevaricated and obfuscated until this point. Fitzgerald (1989: 40) records that there had been pressure for an inquiry into police behaviour, particularly from the media and the legal profession. What pressure did newspapers bring to bear to reverse this change of heart which resulted in an ineffective inquiry into police behaviour known as the Lucas Inquiry which was specifically barred from investigating corruption? Fitzgerald (1989: 46) said of this inquiry: "From this distance it is possible to see how good motives and decent people were manipulated...to produce a result which allowed corruption to expand and flourish."
Selection criteria: 1,2,3,4,5.
10 The allegations in Parliament and elsewhere in 1978 that there was a conflict of interest when land belonging to Housing and Local Government Minister Russ Hinze was rezoned by the Governor in Council on the recommendation of Local Government Minister Russ Hinze despite strong opposition from local people.
Selection criteria: 1,3,5.
11 Allegations made by two named former police officers on the ABC television program 'Nationwide' in March 1982 of police corruption involving very senior officers.
Selection criteria: 1,2,5.
12 The allegations in 1984 that the Police Commissioner had known for two years of complaints about the activities of a police constable attached to the public relations section who was accused of molesting youths but that the Commissioner had done nothing about the accusations. The Fitzgerald Report records how media allegations led to the Government appointing Des Sturgess QC to conduct an inquiry into the controversy generated by the allegations. How much pressure was exerted by newspapers and did newspapers argue that the inquiry should be open and wide ranging?
Selection criteria: 1,2,4,5.
Having identified the issues to be studied, newspapers were examined for relevant articles, including stories, photographs, cartoons, features, editorials, letters to the editor and any other material which contained mention of the issue or could be reasonably considered relevant. Copies of each title were searched to find the edition in which the issue was first mentioned. Checks were made for any earlier reference to the issue. Each subsequent edition was examined and all relevant articles were photocopied. Searching continued until there was either no further coverage of the issue or the storyline changed so significantly that in essence a new issue was being reported on.
The research, analysis and findings are organised as follows. The issue is identified by an initial heading which also appears on the contents page. Under the sub-heading of 'Background' the issue is put in context by means of a summary of who the key players were, the origins of the issue and the facts as known - and as they became known - to the media and public at the time.
Under the heading of 'Total coverage' a precis of each newspaper item is included in an overall chronological list designed to give an assessment of how coverage of the issue evolved. Each precis is designed not to give an accurate summary of the whole of the newspaper article nor of all of the happenings being written about. The primary function of each precis is to summarise and highlight the allegations being canvassed, new points emerging for the first time, coverage of what the thesis argues is the key point(s) and anything which tends to show the newspaper acting as a watchdog.
Each item in the list includes: the date the article appeared; the name of, or an abbreviation for, the newspaper; the page on which the article appeared; a categorisation of the article; the number of paragraphs; and the headline used. The newspapers are: CM - The Courier-Mail; DS - Daily Sun; SM - The Sunday Mail; SS - Sunday Sun; ST - Sunday Truth; Tele - Telegraph.
The page on which an article appears is relevant in that most newspapers tend to place what they consider to be the most newsworthy and attention-grabbing items on the front page. Something on the front page is likely to have more impact than an article appearing further back in the newspaper. Smaller articles appearing deep in the newspaper are more likely to be overlooked by readers. In the list, if an article starts on one page and continues on another, both page numbers are given.
The following categories have been used to describe articles appearing in the newspapers: news story, sports story, news backgrounder, feature, column, cartoon, editorial. It is argued that most of these categories are self-evident. Where background information is given on a features page which contains a layout and treatment which is obviously different to the news pages, the article is categorised as a feature. Where background information appears on the same page and in the same treatment as news stories it is categorised as a news backgrounder. The label of 'column' is used for an article, usually by-lined, that appears regularly and which contains personal comments or views.
The number of paragraphs is included to give an idea of the impact and importance assigned by the newspaper, and depth of the article. A large story of, say, 20 paragraphs occupies a sizeable part of a page and is likely to grab the attention of the reader: one of half a dozen paragraphs or less is easy to miss. Editorials are often written in a different style and are laid out in a different style, with paragraphs often containing more sentences than stories and features. Where this appears to be the case the number of sentences is also given.
A large headline is more likely to attract readers than a small one. The length of the headline can also be a guide to the importance placed on the story by the newspaper although the size of type used is also very important when it comes to impact. This thesis is principally interested in the message. Headlines that appeared in upper case are given here in upper case.
After each article has been summarised the thesis carries the sub-heading 'Key point' under which an argument is advanced as to what it was that newspapers should have focussed on and why. Coverage by each newspaper touching on this key point is then listed under the sub-heading 'Key point coverage'. The thesis then gives an 'Appraisal' of whether the newspapers identified and focussed on this key point and to what degree the coverage met the criteria developed to measure whether or not newspapers acted in a watchdog role. With some issues it is apparent that there is more than one key point which newspapers might have focussed on. The thesis applies the same treatment to each of those key points.
Where appropriate, the thesis then carries out a 'General analysis' of the reportage of the issue using hegemony, semiotics and discourse analysis, especially in highlighting what the newspapers did not say. Did the newspapers follow the establishment line or were they fiercely independent? Finally, there is an assessment of how coverage of the issue came to an end.
Under the heading of 'Hindsight', the thesis points out the ramifications of the issue: its later effects and what we now know.
End part one.
WHERE WAS THE WATCHDOG?
How was it that corruption was able to flourish
in Queensland during the three decades from 1957 to 1987
when under social responsibility theory
the media had an obligation to act as a watchdog?
Thesis by: Steve Bishop
Queensland University of Technology
Student No: 01211137
Faculty: BBS – Faculty of Business
Course: BS84 – Master of Business
Campus: Gardens Point
Word Count: 84,464
October 4, 1997
September 2024: This is an edited version of the thesis in which much of the theory and associated literature has been omitted.
CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION
According to social responsibility theory the media have an obligation in a Western-style democracy to act as a watchdog on behalf of the public to protect them from government excesses and corruption (Siebert, Peterson and Schramm, 1956; Curran, 1991; McQuail 1987). Queensland is such a democracy and yet in 1989 the publication of what is popularly known as the Fitzgerald Report into Corruption (Report of a Commission of Inquiry Pursuant to Orders in Council) revealed that despite the presence of media which included two State Sunday newspapers, a State daily newspaper and an evening newspaper based in the State capital of Brisbane, as well as television and radio stations, the State Government had allowed or even condoned corruption which had flourished for decades, especially in the Police Force, and which had become widespread (Fitzgerald, 1989: 30). This thesis examines this paradox and seeks to discover how it was that corruption was able to flourish in Queensland during the three decades leading up to the Fitzgerald Inquiry when the media had an obligation under social responsibility theory to act as a watchdog.
This thesis outlines the well-documented corruption that flourished in Queensland for several decades prior to the Inquiry and examines in detail how major newspapers dealt with 12 issues where it appeared corrupt practices may have been involved. It argues that Queensland’s print media were deficient in carrying out the surveillance or ‘watchdog’ role that has been elaborated on by historians such as Curran (1191: 84), sociologists such as McQuail (1987: 116) and many others, including news media professionals.
The criteria developed in this thesis for measuring the effectiveness of newspaper surveillance in Queensland over the period of this study would appear to be applicable to the media in any Western liberal society.
Although there were frequent allegations in this period of abuses of Queensland’s democratic and electoral processes, it can be demonstrated that the conditions in which the media operated fitted the social responsibility model that Siebert, Peterson and Schramm described when they developed their four theories of the press in 1956 and under which the media in a Western liberal democracy have a duty to act as a watchdog.
It is pertinent at this point to explain the structure of this thesis (words in bold appear as chapter headings). Following this introduction the thesis will elaborate on the problem to be addressed. It is then necessary to explain the scope of the study, it being considered impossible in a study of this size to examine coverage of corruption in Queensland by every section of the media over an unlimited time frame. The thesis will justify a decision to examine a three-decade period by named newspapers. The chapter also defines exactly what it is that this thesis sets out to achieve.
The literature review will:
- Demonstrate that corruption existed and that there was evidence available to newspapers in the period being examined that should have alerted them to the need to act as a watchdog;
- Review criticism of, and verdicts on, the performance of Queensland newspapers in reporting on political excesses and alleged corruption during the period being examined;
- Include any other references which have a bearing on the thesis; and
- Note that the review has not revealed any evidence that the quest of this thesis has been undertaken before.
The chapter on theory outlines the theories applicable in this thesis and notes that it is necessary to develop social responsibility theory in order to define watchdog behaviour and to establish a set of criteria which set out a series of actions which, this thesis argues, demonstrate varying levels of commitment to the task of acting as a watchdog seeking to draw the attention of the public to corrupt behaviour. It argues that not until a newspaper has identified the key point of an issue can a logical, well-ordered investigation begin so that there is a systematic quest to reveal any abuse of proper procedure. The methodology sets out 12 issues to be examined, how and why they were selected, and the process involved in analysing them.
The issues are examined in part two of the thesis with conclusions being reached in relation to each of them and included in each chapter. Having drawn conclusions on each issue, the thesis then examines these to draw further conclusions about the coverage by nominated newspapers of the 12 issues as a whole.
CHAPTER 2 – THE PROBLEM TO BE ADDRESSED
In 1987 the Queensland Government initiated a commission of inquiry to investigate allegations of corruption in the State. Two years later the Commissioner, G E Fitzgerald, revealed in his official report, known as the Fitzgerald Report, that corruption had been rife in Queensland for decades. He said (1989: 30) that successive Governments and their departments had either failed to eradicate it or ignored it or even condoned it. He found (1989: 31) that in the late 1940s and early 1950s it was accepted in the Police Force that bribes from prostitution, starting-price (SP) bookmaking and illegal liquor sales were a form of semi-official tribute shared between the party in Government and some police. Corruption had reached a ‘quaint quasi-legitimacy’ by 1958 when the State’s top-ranked detective, Frank Bischof, was appointed Police Commissioner by the Country-Liberal Coalition Government which had won power in 1957. Over the next three decades of Coalition power until the Fitzgerald Inquiry was created in 1987, corruption became more and more refined and powerful to the point where it affected many important and far-reaching Government decisions (1989: 85-116).
Despite complaints by the Labor Opposition, some academics and others about electoral malapportionment, the political system was such that it plainly fell within the model described by Siebert et al (1956) as being one in which social responsibility theory is applicable. For the entire period to be examined, Queensland was a democracy in which State Governments were obliged to seek re-election after being in power for no more than three years (Queensland Year Book 1996). With a few exceptions, such as the possession of a criminal record, all adults were entitled to vote, although prior to February 1, 1966, Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders were not regarded as Australian citizens and were not enfranchised.
It can be shown that the media was well aware that it had a responsibility to act as a watchdog. The Courier-Mail, the State’s top-selling daily newspaper, constantly alluded to this duty to act as a watchdog. For the entire period to be reviewed, The Courier-Mail carried a motto, above its leading article, reminding readers: "Liberty depends on the Freedom of the Press and that cannot be limited without being lost - Jefferson." The placing of this quotation above the leading article said, in effect, with freedom from Government interference, newspapers could protect people’s liberty through being outspoken.
On March 2, 1982, H A Gordon, editor-in-chief of Queensland Newspapers, proprietors of The Courier-Mail, The Sunday Mail (one of two Statewide Sunday newspapers) and the Telegraph (Brisbane’s evening newspaper), told Courier-Mail readers on page 19 that "there were many members of Parliament who would dearly love to shackle the press". On the same page, in a feature headlined "The right to criticise", The Courier-Mail said:
This is a society which, for obvious reasons, is sceptical about the abilities and motives of politicians...But politicians and their activities remain a fair target for newspaper opinion and comment, particularly where - as in Queensland - there is an imbalance of political power and a sizeable minority of the population lacks adequate political representation.
The feature was commenting on the fact that a zonal electoral system had resulted in an inequitable voting system where one vote did not have one value because some city electorates contained about twice as many voters as some rural electorates. The ‘imbalance of political power’ was probably a reference to the fact that in 1980 the Country Party had been able to install one of its members as Premier having won 35 of the 82 seats with less than 28 per cent of the vote (Queensland Parliamentary Handbook, 1991: 413). Its share of the vote gave it 43 per cent of the seats and in coalition with the Liberal Party it was able to form Government. It had been able to retain power and dominate the Coalition since 1957. In effect, the newspaper was saying that because ‘a sizeable minority of the population lacked adequate political representation’ there was a special need for the media to take on this representation and be extra vigilant in its watchdog role on behalf of its readers.
An examination of Queensland’s newspapers for the purposes of this thesis revealed that there were frequent references to State Government decisions and to the activities of Government Ministers, Members of Parliament, police and, to a lesser extent, public officials, which indicated that all was not well with the democratic process.
However, it also became apparent in reading through newspaper and Hansard reports of corruption issues spread over 30 years that stories frequently seemed to miss the key point of the issue being reported on. It seemed that a newsworthy side issue or red herring was introduced into the issue being covered, newspaper coverage of the issue was side-tracked, and future editions either failed to focus sufficiently on the key point or never discovered it in the first place.
There are many examples of newspapers mentioning crucial allegations but failing to draw their readers’ attention to the problem by not focussing on the key point of the issue. As an example, the Telegraph only mentioned in the last of 44 paragraphs on November 29, 1976, that acknowledged honest Police Commissioner Ray Whitrod was warning that junior Inspector Terry Lewis was not the best man for the job as his successor. Lewis was appointed Commissioner soon afterwards and was not successfully exposed as corrupt until the Fitzgerald Inquiry, more than 10 years later, by which time corruption had become further entrenched in the State. Another example occurred when The Courier-Mail printed a long story on April 2, 1982, in which it reported that Labor MP Kev Hooper had named Police Commissioner Terry Lewis and Assistant Commissioner Tony Murphy as being crooked. But this revelation was buried 26 paragraphs into a story and was mentioned almost in passing.
At an early stage in researching newspaper reports on matters which appeared to be related to allegations of corruption it appeared that this failure to focus on key points was a common occurrence and that it may have been responsible for readers not being alerted to some of the examples of the corruption flourishing in Queensland during the three decades from 1957 to 1987. The question arose: did media coverage of corruption issues regularly fail to highlight the vital points and therefore fail to draw readers’ attention to problems that needed rectifying? And if it did, what exactly was the coverage to which the media should have aspired?
This thesis argues that the role of watchdog requires more than straightforward news reportage of events. It argues that it is not enough for a newspaper to print a news story containing allegations of corruption or impropriety and believe that it has therefore done its duty. The thesis will argue that if newspapers were to be watchdogs, facts such as those that had been buried deep in stories should have been highlighted as the main points. They should have been focussed on and examined and enlarged and dissected and probed. And the issue should have been developed and turned over in ensuing editions. Leading articles and features should have been written. The problem should have been spelled out.
One whimper is not likely to be enough to alert readers to a problem or deter corrupt activity or achieve some other public benefit. This thesis argues that watch-dog behaviour involves acting in a manner which draws prolonged attention to something that is, or is likely to be, illegal, immoral, unethical, unfair or undemocratic. At its most effective this watchdog behaviour should comprise a determined, focussed, concentrated and prolonged coverage designed to force action in that the offending behaviour ceases, an effective investigation is launched or some other acceptable outcome is achieved.
For example, what was needed in Queensland was the sort of targeted coverage provided by the Washington Post which followed the break-in on June 17, 1972, of the Democratic National Committee offices in the Watergate Building in Washington DC (Woodward and Bernstein, 1974). While other newspapers largely dropped the story after the initial court case, the Post devoted staff to the task of investigating the background to the break-in and court case. The Post developed a strategy for exposing more and more of the conspiracy and continually focussed on key points. It constantly developed the story and put the details into context for readers. The first story, about the Watergate office break-in, appeared on June 18, 1972. Pressure mounted until President Nixon resigned on August 8, 1974, after more than two years of investigative reporting.
In Queensland, The Sun carried out a targeted campaign in late 1988 and early 1989 with a daily update designed to force the resignation of disgraced MP Donald Lane, who had been exposed by the Fitzgerald Inquiry. Its campaign was totally focussed on a key point – forcing the Member’s resignation because, argued the newspaper, he should not continue to draw his salary. Lane wrote (1993: 255) that the editor had seemed to regard it as a personal crusade to drive him from Parliament, with journalists and photographers from The Sun turning up at his office on a daily basis. The pressure became too much for him and he resigned.
The thesis argues that with growing evidence that the Government was prepared to ignore proper or accepted procedures, such strategies were needed in Queensland in the period under examination if the media were intent on fulfilling their obligation under social responsibility theory. Even if such concerted watchdog behaviour had existed it may not have achieved the sort of outcomes outlined but at least the newspapers would have fulfilled their duty to act as a watchdog on behalf of the community.
The question is: did Queensland’s media act in such a way in the three decades under review?
CHAPTER 3 – SCOPE OF THE STUDY
It is argued that it is beyond the scope of this thesis to examine the reportage by cinema newsreels, television channels, radio stations and newspapers of every issue where corruption or other official impropriety may have been alleged in the period of half a century or more covered by the Fitzgerald Inquiry. It is therefore necessary to be selective in order to make available a manageable body of evidence which is of a volume which can be examined by this thesis but which is still representative. It is necessary to choose logical starting and finishing points for the period to be examined.
Fitzgerald (1989: 31) makes it plain that corruption was endemic in Queensland in the years after World War Two when it was accepted in the police force that bribes were a form of semi-official tribute shared between police and Government, and that this corruption continued and grew. The thesis argues that it is reasonable to take as a starting point for its examination of issues the occasion when, in 1957, after 40 years of almost uninterrupted Australian Labor Party Governments, the Country (later National) and Liberal Parties, regained power in a coalition – power that they were to maintain for 32 years. This was a point at which the Government could have chosen to make sweeping reforms or to carry on much as before. One of the new Government's first major decisions was the appointment as Police Commissioner of a detective who it was warned was corrupt, a fact which was confirmed by evidence from former Toowoomba police officer Charles Corner at the Fitzgerald Inquiry. It was under this commissioner, Frank Bischof, that corruption grew, became well organised and started to flourish (Fitzgerald, 1989: 31/32). The period finished with the Fitzgerald Inquiry into Corruption which held its first sittings in June 1987.
Despite narrowing the period to be examined to three decades, it would still be impossible to examine every report compiled by cinema, radio, television and newspapers of issues on a daily or weekly basis. It is doubtful if cinema, radio or television reports for the period are catalogued and available for scrutiny in their entirety. Newspapers, however, usually appear on a daily or weekly basis and it is easy to judge when an issue or a page is missing from records. It is also argued that newspapers on any one day tend to carry more stories, features and backgrounders than cinema newsreels, television or radio stations, thus giving them more space in which to carry out the role of watchdog. It is also likely that if there had been a watchdog campaign mounted by radio, television or newsreel, it would have been mentioned and followed up in at least one of Queensland’s major newspapers. For this reason this thesis limits its examination to the role played by newspapers.
A decision then had to be made about which newspapers could logically and reasonably have been expected to act as watchdogs on behalf of Queenslanders. Although some newspapers, such as The Australian and The Sydney Morning Herald may have covered some of the issues, they could not have been expected to have acted as watchdogs for Queensland readers on Queensland issues, a function which would have required them to devote regular and detailed coverage to issues which would probably have been of less interest to readers in Sydney and elsewhere. At the other end of the spectrum, provincial newspapers in Queensland did not have staff reporters based in Brisbane and depended largely on agency reports for their news of State Parliament and Government activities. These regionally-based newspapers did not have the staff or circulation to pretend to cover State-wide issues. This thesis is therefore concerned with coverage by Queensland's major newspapers, Truth (later the Sunday Truth and Sunday Sun), The Sunday Mail, The Courier-Mail, Telegraph and, after 1982, the Daily Sun. These newspapers all covered State-wide issues and reported on Parliament.
In a search to gain an understanding of the way in which allegations of corruption were treated by newspapers, every issue of Truth, Sunday Truth and the Sunday Sun between 1957 and 1987 was read. Photocopies were taken of every story which appeared to be connected with corruption. To discover what allegations of corruption had been raised in Parliament, every copy of Hansard for the same period was read. Photocopies were taken of every speech or question which appeared to be relevant. Searches were then made for coverage of these issues in the other newspapers.
The examination of every story touching on corruption in the 30 years between 1957 and the start of the Fitzgerald Inquiry is beyond the scope of this thesis. Therefore, a representative sample of the issues involving alleged corruption had to be selected from the large number available and analysed. Selecting several issues from one relatively short period of the three decades under review, and none for several years, may have resulted in a skewed result. For instance, in 1978 the new editor-in-chief of Queensland Newspapers promised more investigative reporting if it appeared the Government did not abide by accepted standards (Boyce, 1980: 5). In an attempt to avoid the possibility of examining periods which might not be representative or which might be unduly affected by particular newspaper personnel and policies, it was decided to spread the issues as evenly as possible throughout the three decades under review.
Other factors were also considered. It would not be reasonable to select issues which had only emerged in the public eye many years after they had developed behind closed doors at a time when there was no obvious way that reporters could have discovered there was something amiss. The Fitzgerald Inquiry revealed a long list of abuses that had occurred in the period under examination but it could be argued that many of them, especially Cabinet decisions or acts of corruption carried out in secret, may never have come to the notice of whistleblowers or journalists at the time. For this reason the thesis has selected issues which were demonstrably available to journalists contemporaneously.
In the 41 pages of his report that are devoted to describing how corruption developed in the years in question, Fitzgerald (1989: 30-70) referred to several pivotal issues which had attracted media attention. A representative selection of these issues has been included. Where distinctions are possible, the thesis seeks to examine a balance between those involving police and those involving Government decisions and senior Government personnel, although these frequently overlapped.
The issues could be further divided into those where the Government ordered no inquiry into the offending behaviour at the centre of the allegations of corruption, and those where an official inquiry was launched. In order to try to establish the part, if any, played by newspapers in prompting the Government to investigate such complaints, the thesis provides analysis of stories in each category.
Finally, it was considered that a spread of 12 issues would fulfil all of the above criteria and would be sufficiently representative to establish whether, after analysis, a clear pattern of reportage emerged. It was also considered that an average gap of 30 months between issues throughout the three decades would provide a regular examination of newspapers’ performance.
This thesis sets out to examine how it was that corruption flourished in Queensland for the three decades leading up to the Fitzgerald Inquiry when under social responsibility theory the media had an obligation to act as a watchdog and will argue that newspapers failed to act as watchdogs according to the criteria developed in this thesis because, by and large, they did not identify and pursue the key points of each issue. To extend the investigation, having discovered what happened, by seeking to find out if there was any particular reason or reasons why they failed in this way would be a very large undertaking. It would be preferable to interview journalists, politicians, public servants and others involved in issues such as those covered in this thesis in an attempt to discover what influences affected media reportage of the issues. Did defamation laws have any effect on coverage? What effects, if any, did relationships between corrupt politicians and police and criminals on the one hand, and journalists on the other, have on newspaper coverage? While it was tempting to extend the scope of the thesis to areas that may have had an influence on the media’s performance during the three decades under review, the task already outlined has produced a work of more than 84,000 words. Others may wish to further explore the failure of newspapers in their watchdog role as defined in this thesis.
It is necessary to define exactly what it is that this thesis sets out to achieve in examining these issues. This thesis seeks to discover the extent to which major newspapers acted as a watchdog in relation to 12 issues on the three decades leading up to the Fitzgerald Inquiry into Corruption of 1987-89. Having argued that watchdog behaviour involved acting in a manner which draws prolonged attention to something that is, or is likely to be, illegal, immoral, unethical, unfair or undemocratic, and that, at its most effective this watchdog behaviour should comprise a determined, focussed, concentrated and prolonged coverage designed to force action in that the offending behaviour ceases, an effective investigation is launched or some other acceptable outcome is achieved, this thesis sets out to measure to what degree this was achieved.
CHAPTER 4 – LITERATURE REVIEW
The literature review revealed evidence that there had been many allegations that members of the Queensland Police and Queensland Government had been involved in corrupt behaviour since the Second World War and that newspapers and other media had either carried news of these allegations or had been aware of them. However, it appeared that newspapers had failed to draw attention to these transgressions in such a way that the behaviour was modified or stopped. Indeed, Charlton (1983: 111) recounted how in 1982, when the ABC television program Four Corners looked at possible corruption in Queensland politics, it collected a number of facts and statements together in a hard-hitting and incisive criticism of politics in the deep north. Charlton complained:
Yet virtually each one of those facts, and almost all of the statements, had been published in one form or another by newspapers in Brisbane. It was left to Four Corners to collect other people's efforts and pull them together in the one program.
The telling point here is that it was left to the ABC to do something with the information. The newspapers had merely published stories. The information had not been fashioned into a weapon with which to attack the government in watchdog fashion. This is precisely the point this thesis is seeking to make; that there is a world of difference between the mere passive reporting of events and intervening in a pro-active way to act as a watchdog. Wells (1979: 48), in suggesting that the list of Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen's various abuses of power, misappropriations of government funds for party political purposes, and misuses of public instrumentalities, was endless, said: "If the reader wishes to pursue further studies of these abuses, they are widely reported in all major newspapers. It is all perfectly open and below board."
The abuses may have been widely reported in that all major newspapers mentioned them but it is argued that, as in the ABC television Nationwide expose of 1982, they did not appear to have been the subject of in-depth investigative reporting to the point where such behaviour was influenced, curtailed or stopped. The literature review provides ample material referring to corruption in the Queensland political system.
In particular, the two-year Fitzgerald Inquiry into corruption in Queensland resulted in the comprehensive Report of a Commission of Inquiry Pursuant to Orders in Council (Fitzgerald, 1989), known widely as the Fitzgerald Report. It established (30/31) a pattern of corruption in Queensland’s public institutions that had been rife for decades.
Literature was searched for references to corruption on the premise that it is essential to establish that corruption did exist before it can be argued that newspapers should have exposed it. Publications were also searched for references to corrupt activity that occurred in the period between 1957 and 1987 and which would have been available to journalists at the time. The review also set out to discover what attempts newspapers had made to investigate and expose corruption, and the results of those attempts. And finally, a search was made to discover if there had been any previous attempts to analyse how corruption had become endemic in Queensland public life when newspapers had a duty under social responsibility theory to act as watchdogs.
Establishing that corruption existed
Some publications covering Queensland’s history after the Second World War do not dwell on the political excesses and corruption that Fitzgerald (1989) found to be endemic in the State or on the performance of the media. For example, R Fitzgerald’s A History of Queensland from 1915 to the 1980s contained only one reference to The Courier-Mail. The Telegraph, Sunday Sun and The Sunday Mail were not mentioned and the dawning of the Daily Sun was mentioned only in passing. There was no mention of corruption in the index.
However, The Fitzgerald Report (1989: 30/31) said that successive Governments and their departments had either failed to eradicate corruption or ignored it or even condoned it. In the late 1940s and early 1950s police officers believed that politicians and selected police received graft to protect prostitution, illegal starting-price (SP) bookmaking and illegal liquor sales. Corruption had reached a ‘quaint quasi-legitimacy’ by the time Frank Bischof was appointed Police Commissioner by the Country-Liberal Coalition Government which won power in 1957. Dickie (1988: 26) told virtually the same story and also named detectives Tony Murphy, Glen detectives and Terence Lewis as being the ‘rat pack’ of corrupt police. The Fitzgerald Report continued (1989: 32) by saying that by 1959 corruption in the section of the force that policed prostitution, liquor licensing and illegal betting was taken for granted. The misconduct was long-standing and deep-seated.
From then on corruption became more and more refined and powerful to the point where it affected many important and far-reaching government decisions. It was so bad that (Fitzgerald, 1989: 30):
Police corruption was common knowledge, particularly among police, and there was a general acceptance that nothing could be done because police, police union officials and politicians were either involved or would resent the adverse publicity which would result if the problem were brought into the open.
As disposable incomes grew and political support was given to the police, corruption flourished. Fitzgerald (1989) spent more than 40 pages telling the story of how police corruption developed through the three decades leading up to the inquiry, which started in 1987. By 1989 Evan Whitton was able to write as the opening of the preface to "Can of Worms": "It has been said, and not entirely in jest, that Sydney is the most corrupt city in the western world, except of course for Newark, New Jersey, and Brisbane, Queensland."
In an examination of the premiership of Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen, who held the office from 1968 to 1987, Walter (1990: 502) argued that the Premier had refused to allow an investigation of his Police Force while throughout this period there was ‘increasing evidence of a subversion of Westminster principles and corruption in public life'.
If police corruption was common knowledge, as stated by Fitzgerald, it is logical to conclude that reporters whose jobs involved constant contact with public figures should have been aware of examples of this corruption and drawn it to readers’ attention.
Establishing the fact that corruption had been a fact of life in Queensland before 1957 is important to the basic premise of this thesis in that, if corruption had been endemic, whispers, gossip, leaks and complaints about corruption should have reached the eyes and ears of the media by the time the coalition took power in 1957. If corruption had not been endemic before 1957, it could well be argued that as a new phenomenon it would have taken time to become a feature of the police service and of government. If this had been the case, it would be difficult to estimate a date at which the media should have become aware of the corruption. However, Lack (1961: 478) revealed evidence of alleged corrupt behaviour from the Labor Government of 1956 and 1957, and noted that the Telegraph had mentioned this behaviour.
Evidence available between 1957-87
The literature reveals a range of cases of corruption which would have been available to journalists during the period between 1957 and 1987.
James (1974) examined the effectiveness of the 1963/64 National Hotel Royal Commission into allegations that the Police Commissioner had encouraged and condoned a call girl service at the hotel. He revealed that the inquiry had been deeply flawed and should have established that corruption had stretched right to the top of the police force. In particular, he cast severe doubts on the integrity of Detective Tony Murphy, an officer who between 1976 and 1982 became an assistant commissioner of police. He wrote in his introduction: "It does not take long in discussions with Brisbane people to find out that the activities which formed the subject of the enquiry were common knowledge at the time." The book leaves readers in no doubt that the Police Force had been riddled with corruption at the time of the inquiry and that nothing had been done to cleanse it. It begs the question: why had the government taken no action?
In 1969 the Opposition alleged that Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen had made 'fabulous wealth' from a shady oil exploration deal (Reid 1971: 33). Opposition Leader Jack Houston had said: "There can be no doubt that in entering into this agreement, the Premier undertook as his part of the deal to deceive the Mines Minister - his former partner..." (Lunn: 1978:74)
Procter (1985:165) presented a survey from 1969 which suggested a public awareness of police malpractice. It had found that only 56 per cent of Queenslanders had great respect for their police. This compared with a total of 76 per cent of South Australians having a great respect for their police. Procter concluded that the Queensland Police Force moved into the 1970s saddled with problems of corruption which were clearly discernible to the electorate.
A row broke out in 1970 about Cabinet Ministers receiving large volumes of Comalco shares. Premier Bjelke-Petersen had denied having accepted any - only to admit later that the name Bjelke-Petersen did appear on the list of beneficiaries of shares through his wife. Lunn (1978: 78) and McQueen (1982: 108) also referred to the Comalco share scandal, with McQueen pointing out that the Premier's own party had passed what amounted to a censure motion of him. Walter and Dickie (1985: 34) summed it up:
Recurrent rumblings about Bjelke-Petersen's private shareholdings and business interests and his public duties came to a head when there were questions about his family's shareholdings in the aluminium company Comalco in conjunction with the revelation that a number of conservative politicians had taken advantage of a preferential share issue by that company.
Walter and Dickie reported that when members of his own party had urged him to step down Bjelke-Petersen had won the internal power battle and had never been challenged after that. They said Bjelke-Petersen refused to bow to expectations concerning a public figure's duty to be seen to avoid conflicts of interest between his private affairs and his public obligations.
In 1975 allegations of corruption connected with a starting price betting court case had led to groups as diverse as the Bar Association, the Council for Civil Liberties and the Police Union suggesting the need for a judicial inquiry (Hughes, 1980: 168). The Premier had at first indicated that the Government would consider that possibility. Then Police Minister Max Hodges had announced the appointment of two Scotland Yard detectives to conduct an internal investigation into the Police Force to determine whether a Royal Commission or a judicial inquiry was necessary. Another Minister, Russell Hinze, had complained that some massage parlours were brothels and alleged police corruption in their operation. At the end of 1976 the Government had finally announced there would be a judicial inquiry - but not into allegations of corruption or malpractice.
The announcement followed the 1975 sacking of reformist Police Minister Max Hodges by the Premier which Hughes (1980: 169) stated was an odd precedent in that it was the only instance of a minister being removed on the grounds of ineffectiveness in 20 years under Premier Bjelke-Petersen. The removal of Police Minister Hodges made it possible for Ray Whitrod, the equally reformist and honest police commissioner, to be pushed out. Brennan (1983: 187) recounted how Police Commissioner Whitrod revealed in 1976 that political interference with his responsibility had reached the stage where he was no longer in command of the force. Walter and Dickie (1985: 39) wrote that Premier Bjelke-Petersen had refused to allow investigation into the police force, leading to Police Commissioner Whitrod's resignation in 1976 with complaints that his efforts to investigate such matters had been frustrated by government interference.
Wells (1979: 40) told how accusations of a cover-up arose in April 1977 when Premier Bjelke-Petersen refused to table in Parliament the report by the Scotland Yard detectives who had been investigating corruption in the Queensland police force, with the Premier saying: "I don't think this is necessary. This is a report to the government." Lunn (1978: 252) drew attention to the fact that the Premier had refused to release any details of the Scotland Yard Inquiry into such matters as a $50 million starting price betting racket and 'crime bosses allegedly bribing police and quashing prosecutions'. Procter (1985: 170) recounted how the report had never been made public and (1985: 179) alleged that the government had publicly done as little as possible about the problem of corruption. The Premier had failed to address charges of corruption and his refusal to make public the contents of the Scotland Yard report had 'caused considerable disquiet'.
By 1977, noted Whip et al (1980: 81): "Bjelke-Petersen...was frequently under attack because of his share dealings..." Ten per cent of National voters, 19 per cent of Liberal voters and 66 per cent of Labor voters did not think Bjelke-Petersen was honest (p84). The following year the Auditor-General reported that in his opinion 23 Members of Parliament had misused Government funds, probably deliberately.
Examples of corrupt activity from other Ministers and senior levels of the Police Force also appeared in the literature. Prominent among the names was Russ Hinze, a Minister in Bjelke-Petersen’s Cabinet. McQueen (1982: 121) told how, as director of a company, Hinze wrote to Albert Shire Council, where he had been a member and chairman for 15 years, asking it to rezone some of his land as a quarry. The shire council asked Minister Russ Hinze for permission to do so. Permission was granted.
By 1982 Russ Hinze had also become the Police Minister. Procter (1985: 177) recalled: "The police corruption issue did surface again in 1982 with allegations by one former and one serving policeman involving senior police officers. Police Minister Hinze reacted in his familiar aggressive and emotional style, accusing the two officers of attempting to 'smear the force'. This contrasted markedly with the analytical and investigative style of the Hodges-Whitrod years and appeared to signal that the government was not concerned with police corruption as an issue with which it needed to deal."
Procter (1985: 165) also reported how The Courier-Mail carried former Liberal Cabinet Minister Sir Thomas Hiley's revelations in September 1982 that former Police Commissioner Frank Bischof had been corrupt and that Sir Thomas considered that Bischof's example may still be white-anting some levels of the police force.
Smith, P. (1985: 28) said Queenslanders had tolerated successive governments which had misused power and public funds. Walter and Dickie (1985: 38) said: "Bjelke-Petersen has far-reaching and diverse business interests. Over the years there has been a litany of allegations concerning the manner in which government decisions and policies have been said to serve those business interests and so to benefit Bjelke-Petersen or members of his family."
Most of these books were not published immediately after the incidents referred to so they could not have acted as a trigger for contemporaneous exposure by newspapers. However, most of the ministers were still in power at the time of publication and the issues were still open to investigation. More importantly, it could also be argued that as each book was published, it was becoming increasingly evident that the Government led by Bjelke-Petersen was not behaving in a fit and proper manner and that there was no sign of it changing its attitudes..
The media’s performance
What attempts had newspapers made to investigate and expose corruption? This section of the literature review examines criticism of, and verdicts on, the performance of the media in general and Queensland's newspapers in particular, in reporting on political excesses and alleged corruption during the period being examined. It also notes any references which have a bearing on the thesis. It discovered that the majority of references to the role of Queensland newspapers in dealing with issues of this kind were not complimentary.
Various reasons have been given for the media’s ineffectiveness in this period. Grundy (1990: 28) said the fear of writs had been a problem in Queensland but Dickie (1990: 56) said categorically: “Defamation actions do not prohibit investigative journalism as is sometimes supposed but they do inhibit it, probably for proprietors more than journalists.”
Fitzgerald (1989:141) had some damning criticism to make:
Unfortunately, it is also true that parts of the media in this State have over the years contributed to a climate in which misconduct has flourished. Fitting in with the system and associating with and developing a mutual interdependence with those in power have had obvious benefits.
Charlton (1983: 109) had touched on this mutual interdependence as being one possible reason for a lack of critical stories from some quarters. Interdependence was the subject of research carried out by true (1977) into the relationship between crime reporters and their police contacts. Charlton found that the reporters needed to socialise with their contacts in order to obtain stories and tended to become part of the police culture. Charlton maintained that political roundsmen, who must maintain contact with ministers and their mouthpieces daily, cannot afford the luxury of disagreements with them. And Peter Manning, a former leading investigative journalist, was quoted by Schultz (1994: 47) saying that too many reporters had become too close to the main proponents in areas such as politics and police rounds and found it easier to go with the flow. Orr (1994: 97/8) said that Fitzgerald had found the media’s lack of a critical perspective partially culpable for the corruption and maladministration and summed up: "Eventually he concluded that parts of the media had not only been too close to government during the Bjelke-Petersen era, but had contributed to a climate in which misconduct flourished."
Fitzgerald himself said (1989: 142) that if the perspective taken serves the purpose of the source, then true independence is lost…"and with it the right to the special privileges and considerations which are usually claimed by the media because of its claimed independence and “watchdog” role. If the independence and the role are lost, so is the claim to special consideration."
It might be argued that the media in other jurisdictions established close relationships with politicians, senior public servants and media advisors but that this did not lead to corruption growing and becoming endemic and did not prevent media in those other jurisdictions acting successfully as watchdogs when necessary,
Orr (1994: 95) said observers had concluded that Brisbane’s media failed to tell the full story. There have been allegations of bias against The Courier-Mail, the newspaper Wallace perceived to be the agenda setter when it came to deciding which issues were to become the main stories of the day (1980: 207). The Labor Opposition had been given no opportunities for coverage comparable with the ALP in other states, said McQueen (1982: 108) because The Courier-Mail ‘criticised Bjelke-Petersen only to support his Liberal subordinates in the Coalition’. Hughes (1980: 309) said: "The editorial predisposition of The Courier-Mail, the flagship of that armada, normally corresponds to the coalitionist wing of the Liberal Party: the first priority is to keep the Labor Party out, and the alliance with the National/Country Party should not be jeopardised by attempting to win majority status within the coalition for the Liberal Party..."
Orr (1994: 102) said the conservative bias was so entrenched that the paper had not supported a Labor Government editorially since its foundation in 1842. On the subject of a Liberal ginger group and the possibility of a split in the Coalition parties, Hughes (1970: 47) said: "The Brisbane Courier-Mail reduces controversy as much as it can..." Grundy (1990: 33) said that a Queensland culture where it was unpatriotic to criticise the State produced a most unhealthy situation where the Opposition was treated very badly by the media.
McQueen (1982: 108) points out that Bjelke-Petersen's press secretary, Allen Callaghan, was able to manufacture an image of the Premier in the media by managing the journalists rather than the news. "The success of Callaghan measured the weakness of the Queensland media," wrote McQueen, who added that Callaghan had been assisted by an 'abnormally high' concentration of media ownership. McQueen noted how both Brisbane dailies that existed at the time(The Courier-Mail and the Telegraph) were owned, along with various radio and television stations, by the Herald and Weekly Times, a fact that had been emphasised two years earlier by Hughes (1980: 309) and Wallace (1980: 207). Wallace believed that the ‘profound lack of competition was a large contributor to the apathy that seemed to affect much of the system (1980:206). He went on to say (1980: 208): "The further one gets from the centre of state politics, the more one is aware that there is no healthy babble of voices. The preconditions of pluralistic democracy hardly seem to be satisfied. Essentially, there is a handful of journalists whose performance defines the norms of reporting state politics in Queensland. Their performances and non-performances are of considerable importance."
In 1982 the Herald and Weekly Times monopoly on daily newspapers in Brisbane was broken when the Daily Sun was launched. Charlton (1983: 113) was not impressed. He criticises the Daily Sun, saying that in the great tradition of Murdoch papers, buxom ladies and racing details were more important than politics and it had been a "fairly consistent supporter of the Queensland government".
There is an argument that it was not merely the concentrated ownership that led to a lack of criticism but also a lack of specialist journalists. Wallace (1980: 219) quoted a 1973 thesis The Government's Voice: a Study of Government Publicity and Information Services by White, B(sic) in which White cites The Courier-Mail support for Bjelke-Petersen whenever 'the chips are down'. The thesis, by D S White, revealed that 65 per cent of government-employed journalists and 68 per cent of political reporters did not believe there were enough journalists employed on government and political rounds to provide an adequate coverage. In Brisbane the government round was normally covered by no more than six reporters. Four of the six said they did not have the full access to sources that they needed.
This lack of numbers was also commented on by Wallace (1980: 227) who said: “For what appears to be largely resource reasons, Queensland’s news media have little capacity to do other than a routine performance in their surveillance of the Queensland environment” Grundy (1990:34) said some worthwhile stories were not followed up purely on the grounds that they had been broken by another organisation.
Boyce (1980: 1) noted: “the apparent acquiescence of so many Queenslanders in the gradual erosion of some traditional features of responsible parliamentary government”. And he pointed out (1980: 5) that the virtual demolition of the Opposition in 1974 had meant the media’s surveillance of Government had assumed a critical importance. “John Wallace has found the Queensland media wanting in this respect,” he said.
There were complaints that Premier Bjelke-Petersen was not being taken to task by the media. Procter (1985: 179) accused:
Although there have been editorial complaints from the press there has been a lack of strong investigative journalism in Queensland. This may be one reason why the Premier has been able to avoid having to answer some of the worst charges of corruption and malpractice in the Police Force.
Walter and Dickie (1985: 37) quote Opposition leader Keith Wright as saying that Bjelke-Petersen never answered questions put to him and that: "...the media let him get away with it...They never bother to question him - he won't answer them anyway - but they never take him on."
Journalist Charlton (1983: 115) referred to Bjelke-Petersen calling his press conferences 'feeding the chooks' and complains it was impossible to pin Bjelke-Petersen down. He had simply refused to answer any question that he did not want to and had persistently refused to entertain any suggestion that the Queensland Police Force was corrupt, despite several notable examples being provided. Perhaps it was impossible to pin him down, but it was still possible to attack him and the corruption that he enabled to exist.
Yet it appears from the literature reviewed that the media had failed to act successfully as a watchdog. Coaldrake (1989:98) blames this on a “docile media” where only the ABC had consistently been critical of the Government. James complained in his 1974 introduction that there had been a general lack of critical journalism at the time of the National Hotel Royal Commission into alleged police involvement in prostitution at the hotel in 1963/64. There had been a lack of response by the media to the allegations which had led to the inquiry. And afterwards there had been a precis in one day's papers followed by silence.
There was little in the way of positive comments about the way in which the media had reported Queensland politics. Procter (1985: 179) said that The Courier-Mail editorials repeatedly criticised the Premier in 1976 and 1977 for evasion, use of delaying tactics and interference - particularly for his failure to make available to the public reports of inquiries into police corruption and misuse of powers. But Procter gives no further details, analysis or dates. Three books suggested that 1978 had brought hope of improvement in the reporting of politics and alleged corruption in Queensland. Hughes (1980: 309) said that in the late 1970s The Courier-Mail became more willing to criticise the Premier and the National party, but said it was difficult to assess how far that was a response to increased pressure on the Liberal Party and its leadership from its ally, and how far it reflected concern at the direction in which the premier was taking Queensland. It was Hughes’ view that The Courier-Mail was aligned with the Liberal Party and, presumably, Hughes was suggesting that the newspaper was criticising the National Party because it was putting pressure on its Liberal Coalition colleagues.
Without giving examples, Fitzgerald (1989: 141) said that the media had played a [art in exposing corruption and he acknowledged that two media organisations had contributed to the creation of the Fitzgerald Inquiry. But he seemed unconvinced of any lasting benefits of such exposes. He mused (1989: 69) that after The Courier-Mail had revealed in January 1987 that policing of gaming and prostitution was not efficient and that two syndicates ran numerous brothels:
Quite possibly the matter would have rested there. Previous media exposes and Ministers’ inquiries had been adeptly handled over the years.
This suggested that he regarded the media as having been ineffectual in any attempts to act as a watchdog seeking to obtain change.
Boyce (1980: 5) suggested that there was hope that Queensland Newspapers, publisher of The Courier-Mail, The Sunday Mail and the Telegraph, would lift its game. It appeared that Harry Gordon, appointed editor-in-chief in 1978, had recognised a shortfall in standards by promising more investigative reporting and a more thoroughgoing criticism of government should it try to manipulate or side-track the accepted procedures of the Westminster system. Charlton was defensive about the Queensland media's abilities and record and it would appear that in Charlton's eyes, also, there had been failures prior to 1978. But he wrote (1983: 110): "The reporting of Queensland politics has become rather more critical in the last five years. Previously, if there was a tendency to accept press releases without question...that has largely disappeared - at least for print journalists."
After criticising the rival Daily Sun, Charlton (1983:113) praised Queensland Newspapers as having been a fairly consistent critic of the government, devoting increased resources to investigative journalism - but without spectacular success. Charlton did not explain why, with such fertile fields to investigate, Queensland Newspapers had been unable to achieve such success.
Fitzgerald (1989) made reference to several pivotal issues that had emerged in the media. There had been a trial in 1975 involving alleged illegal bookmakers which became known as the Southport Betting Case. The Premier had earlier promised an inquiry into corrupt police activities. Fitzgerald recorded (1989: 40) that before the Southport Betting Case had been completed
there was pressure for an inquiry into police behaviour, particularly from the media and the legal profession, which had long been frustrated by police attitudes and practices and its own ability to raise the level of concern of politicians and the general community.
This suggested that the media had tried and failed to obtain an inquiry due to public apathy. This suggestion is examined by this thesis.
In December 1984 The Courier-Mail carried allegations of male prostitution which, said Fitzgerald, led to the establishment of the Sturgess Inquiry into Sexual Offences Involving Children and Related Matters (1989: 68).
In March 1982 ABC television’s Nationwide carried the stories of two former police officers who gave detailed allegations of police corruption at a very high level (Fitzgerald 1989: 76). He recorded (1989: 34) how it was another ABC television current affairs program, This Day Tonight, which, in June 1971, provided the platform for prostitute Shirley Brifman to admit she had given perjured evidence to the National Hotel Royal Commission of 1963/64 to protect corrupt police officers. But James complained in his introduction that after Brifman had admitted to having committed perjury at the inquiry and to paying money to every member of the vice squad, there had been little reaction in the press. Dickie examined this lack of reaction to Brifman’s revelations and reported that two accused police officers, Glen Patrick Hallahan and Tony Murphy, used The Courier-Mail as a forum to deny all the allegations. (In 1988 it was the Daily Sun which gave Murphy a platform for him to supply his version of why his name kept on cropping up in the wrong places (Dickie 1988: 62)).
Tony Murphy, the detective against whom many allegations were made at the Fitzgerald Inquiry, used the media again in 1978. Dickie (1988: 62) reported how the two Sunday newspapers had aided him: "Murphy was then under some pressure, with Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen wanting to replace him as the head of the CIB with former Whitrod man Inspector Basil Hicks. In an article in The Sunday Mail he claimed credit for the Anoa drug bust and in the Sunday Sun, in the wake of the Wilson revelations, the Queensland police were credited with smashing "a $160 million heroin gang". Both claims were nonsense: federal and New South Wales authorities were responsible for the Anoa bust an no member of the Mr Asia gang had ever been or ever was convicted of a drug offence by the Queensland Police."
These were not isolated incidents according to Fitzgerald (1989: 53): "An article appeared in the Sunday Sun newspaper on the weekend of 24 September 1978, giving its source as an anonymous Licensing Branch 'spokesman'. The article severely criticised the Branch (and therefore of course its head, Jeppesen) for alleged over-concentration on prostitution and SP bookmaking at the expense of proper attention to illegal liquor sales, especially to underage drinkers, and the supply of drugs in hotels to minors as well as others. Merely by way of passing comment, it might be observed that precisely the same tactic is still routinely employed by corrupt police officers and their journalistic contacts, who regularly abuse the freedom of the press to spread false and malicious rumours and allegations for ulterior purposes."
In March 1979, said Fitzgerald (1989:76) Detective Tony Murphy told a journalist (Sunday Sun police roundsman Brian Bolton) that two couriers for the ‘Mr Asia’ drug syndicate, a married couple named Wilson, had been secretly tape-recorded by Queensland Police. Bolton wrote a story about the tape recordings in the Sunday Sun. A month later, in April 1979, the Wilsons were murdered in Victoria. The Stewart Royal Commission into illegal drugs found that the disclosure had been foolish because the article contained sufficient material to confirm to ‘a suspicious and vengeful’ Terrence John Clark, the syndicate’s head, that the Wilsons had definitely informed on him.
There are references to newspapers and television programs produced outside Queensland making an impact on the State political scene. Hughes (1980: 11) resorted to an editorial from an out-of-State newspaper, The Australian Financial Review of April 26, 1978, for this summary of Queensland: "We have a State Premier, supported in power by an electoral gerrymander, a pusillanimous coalition partner and an intimidated governing party, riding roughshod over all the conventions of mature, clean, open and rational government. From the pressured retirement of a Police Commissioner to the location of choice coal leases to foreign investments without public tender and charges in Parliament of personal gain, Mr Johannes Bjelke-Petersen remains unfazed and unchallenged."
The literature review has outlined how a systematic and far-reaching commission of inquiry established a pattern of corruption in Queensland’s public institutions. However, the inquiry’s terms of reference precluded it from specifically addressing whether the media might have contributed to the situation. Other literature examined indicates that the media may have been at fault by failing to highlight examples of political and administrative failings as required by social responsibility theory. Authors cite various reasons for these failings, including an over-familiarity with, or over-reliance on, sources; the particular approach of Queensland Newspapers to political coverage; and the high concentration of newspaper ownership. However, in the absence of detailed empirical work, no firm conclusions can be reached.
This thesis seeks to set the stage for these suggestions and others to be tested by providing an empirical foundation for the contention that the Queensland media did fail to live up to the goals of social responsibility theory. It does this in two ways: firstly, through establishing precisely what type of coverage was provided; and secondly, through providing a mechanism by which this coverage might be measured against social responsibility theory.
CHAPTER 5 - THEORY
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Defining watchdog behaviour
This thesis argues that it is necessary to develop social responsibility theory to enable it to be applied to an examination of specific settings. In order for this thesis to determine what evidence there is of Queensland newspapers acting as a watchdog it is necessary to determine what constitutes watchdog behaviour under social responsibility theory, and then to develop an appropriate set of criteria against which coverage can be measured.
In developing social responsibility theory, Peterson defined watchdog behaviour (1956: 74) as acting on behalf of the public to protect them from government excesses and corruption. This would mean he envisaged watchdog behaviour as comprising more than merely reporting the facts and then doing nothing more if the offending behaviour continued. Using his definition, watchdog behaviour entails going beyond the mere reporting of events: it necessitates being pro-active in order to be effective.
This thesis argues that in order to safeguard people's rights a newspaper needs to adopt a watchdog mode that comprises a determined, focussed and, if necessary, prolonged coverage of something that is, or is likely to be, illegal, immoral, unethical, unfair or undemocratic, and that, at its most effective, this watchdog behaviour should attempt to bring about the cessation of the offending behaviour, the launch of an effective investigation, or some other positiv result.
An analysis of stories contained in this thesis confirms that mere coverage of an issue does not necessarily amount to the newspaper acting as a watchdog. As Wells said (1979: 48)
If the reader wishes to pursue further studies of these abuses, they are widely reported in all major newspapers.
The abuses may have been widely reported but the thesis draws a distinction between a newspaper acting in a reporting role and acting in a watchdog role. The differentiation is between passive reporting and active investigation. A newspaper in passive, reporting role, as evidenced in many of the issues examined by this thesis, will merely report on the events and what was said each day. The thesis argues that the practical application of the theory in relation to watchdog behaviour requires a newspaper to be proactive on behalf of the public so that it can reveal what may have been hidden. It further argues that any effective campaign cannot take place until a newspaper has analysed the issue and worked out what questions need to be asked to uncover the key point at the heart of the issue. Not until this key point has been identified can a logical, well-ordered investigation begin so that there is a systematic quest to reveal any abuse of proper procedure. Indeed, the crus of this thesis is that it is essential for a newspaper intent on acting as a watchdog to identify the key point or points of an issue and to focus its coverage on that point or points if it is to operate as a watchdog. As a simple example, a Minister may answer a question in parliament. One newspaper may carry a well-written and accurate report on the question and answer. A second newspaper which has researched the issue may point out to readers that the most important point about the answer was what was not said. It will then focus its coverage on this omission.
It is also argued that when a newspaper acts in a passive, reporting role, the point which should be the focus of the story can be lost in the depths of the copy, as with the examples of the Telegraph on November 29, 1976, when the key point appeared in the last of 44 paragraphs, and The Courier-Mail of April 2, 1982, when the key point was buried 26 paragraphs in a page three story headlined ‘Police chief admits ‘help’ for Lyons’ and was mentioned almost in passing. Unless a newspaper has analysed an issue and worked out what the key point is, any attempt to act as a watchdog may be doomed to failure. The Sturgess controversy, which is examined later in this thesis, is an example of a failure to identify a key point. There was an allegation that the Police Commissioner had been aware for two years of complaints that a police constable engaged in public relations work with youngsters was a paedophile but that the Commissioner had done nothing to intervene. Newspapers failed to concentrate on this allegation and were side-tracked instead into reporting on other developments. The focus never returned to the Commissioner’s alleged complicity.
The thesis argues that the process of active investigation is most important; that fulfilling the role of watchdog necessitates an attempt to affect the behaviour being exposed. This attempt might involve action as simple as one expose or as complex as a concerted campaign, with a newspaper using many of its editorial resources in watchdog mode. The campaign might include: a series of stories each focussed on the key point; interviews with critics of the corrupt behaviour; publication of incriminatory documents and other revealing evidence; features on similar developments in other jurisdictions; the identities involved; what the relevant law involves; and many other devices designed to effect change. Cartoonists can often imply what a writer can never get away with and columnists are free, within the law of defamation, to add their comments to the facts. Leading articles can lucidly draw facts, figures, quotes and other evidence together and can also snarl, warn and demand action to ensure that the reader is made aware of exactly what is at stake.
Although many authors have highlighted the importance of the watchdog role, their writings provide no method by which this might be measured. In order to enable this thesis to measure the degree to which newspapers fulfilled their obligation under social responsibility theory to act as a watchdog, it is necessary to develop a set of criteria which set out a series of actions which this thesis argues demonstrate varying levels of commitment to the task of acting as a watchdog seeking to draw the attention of the public to corrupt behaviour and to bring about a positive change to that behaviour. The criteria are set out in ascending order of involvement, dedication, intensity and complexity, starting with publication of just one story to a full-blown and lengthy campaign. In setting out seven criteria, it is suggested that in some simple cases a newspaper might only need to fulfil the first of the criteria in order to act as a watchdog. One story with the right focus, might be sufficient for offending behaviour to be stopped or prevented; for a successful prosecution to be launched; or for some other desired outcome to be achieved. In other cases it might be necessary for a newspaper to fulfil two or three of the criteria to achieve the desired result, and so on. No doubt there might be cases where even after matching all seven of the criteria a newspaper will still fail to achieve a positive outcome but, nevertheless, it would certainly have acted as a watchdog.
The thesis argues that the following seven criteria constitute a logical progression of how a newspaper might seek to act as a watchdog, starting with the kind of story outlined in criterion one and bringing increased pressure to bear in order to achieve a positive outcome:
1. Clearly identify and highlight a, or the, key point which is either
the crux of the issue or which goes to the very heart of the issue by making the point the focus of the story;
2. Make this key point the subject of an editorial that does not merely reiterste the story and make motherhood statements about outcomes but interprets the facts surrounding the key point and, where relevant, demands action;
3. Focus on the key point, or at least remind readers of this point, by featuring it prominently and frequently as the key point in follow-up stories in future editions,
4. Enlarge, explore, dissect and develop the circumstances, origin, history, motivations and identities involved in this key point in order to further explain its importance and relevance in a feature, backgrounder or column;
5. Develop and widen coverage of the key point by carrying stories in which answers, opinions and interviews regarding the key point are sought from people such as Opposition Members of Parliament, academics and organisations with an interest in, or affected by, the issue, as well as those directly involved at the heart of the controversy;
6. Keep the key point in the public eye by publishing on a frequent and regular basis, stories, columns, features, backgrounders, editorials, cartoons and letters;
7. Make it clear to readers that the newspaper is acting as a watchdog by such devices as giving the campaign a 'label', announcing what the objectives of the campaign are and announcing that pressure will be maintained until the stated goals are achieved.
The object of performing in this way is to intervene in order to expose any corruption of proper process and to secure some positive outcome in regard to that remind. The thesis argues that this list provides an adequate standard against which to measure the watchdog performance of a publication.
CHAPTER 6 - METHODOLOGY
This section sets out the texts to be examined, how and why they were selected, and the process involved in analysing them.
The thesis has already set out the basis for selecting the subject matter, or issues, for examination. In summary they are:
1. Evidence that the subject matter was available contemporaneously to the me dia
2. An allegation of corruption involving police;
3. An allegation of corruption involving senior Government figures;
4. An issue resulting in an official inquiry being promised or held;
5. The necessity for a 'spread' of issues over the entire period.
After an examination of newspapers, including a thorough reading of every Sunday Sun, and scrutiny of Hansard between 1957 and 1987, 12 issues were selected for examination. The first occurred in 1957 and the last in 1984. The average gap between issues is 30 months and the longest is four years. The selection criteria involved in each issue are included in the following list.
1 The statement (Hansard, 1957: 747) by new Police Minister Tom Morris in Parliament on October 31, 1957, less than three months after the Liberal-National Party Coalition had won Government on August 3 after many years of corruption under a Labor Government, that: "Ministers of the Crown have quite willingly agreed with me that the Police Force is one that must not under any consideration be influenced politically. Far be it from me to go into the years gone by; hon. members opposite know better than I. I do not intend to go witch-hunting over the period prior to August 3."
Selection criteria: 1,2,3,5.
2 The ousting of Police Commissioner Tom Harold on grounds of ill health and the appointment of corrupt detective Frank Bischof in his place by Cabinet in 1958. This issue is of particular interest because there were grounds for suspecting that the process was tainted and because the decision would have such far-reaching consequences on the development of long-term corruption. Selection criteria: 1,2,3,5.
3 Allegations in March 1962 of serious ministerial impropriety in that Minister Ernie Evans had used confidential departmental information to buy shares in an oil company at 11s each shortly before the company discovered oil at a drilling site. The shares rose quickly in value to six pounds 15s each.
Selection criteria: 1,3,5.
4 The 1963/64 National Hotel Royal Commission which investigated an allegation by Labor MP Colin Bennett that Police Commissioner Frank Bischof and senior police were involved in a call girl operation at the hotel.
Selection criteria: 1,2,3,4,5..
5 The allegation on October 1, 1967, by trade union official Jack Egerton, that there had been $80,000 on a gaming table at an illegal casino's opening night on the Gold Coast, attended by prominent people who had arrived in a cavalcade of cars. The allegation suggested 'prominent people' considered it safe and desirable to attend an illegal function and presumably believed they would not face arrest and were therefore above the law. Selection criteria: 1,2,5.
6 The 1969 allegation by Opposition leader Jack Houston that Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen had made fabulous wealth by devious means involving an oil exploration permit and shares. Selection criteria: 1,3,5
7 The admission by prostitute Shirley Brifman on the ABC current affairs television program This Day Tonight in June 1971 that she had given perjured evidence to the National Hotel Inquiry on behalf of corrupt police officers. This admission should have given the media an ideal opportunity to probe the revelation's implications and to press for a further inquiry into corruption. Selection criteria: 1,2,5.
8 Disciplinary action in 1974 against several of the most important figures in Queensland trotting and allegations against the sport's board's chairman which, unusually, prompted concern from both sides of Parliament.
Selection criteria: 1,3,5.
9 The appointment in 1976 of junior police officer Terry Lewis as Police Commissioner. This event had a major bearing on the development of corruption and there is evidence that Lewis' reputation as a former bagman was known or suspected. This issue overlapped with a change of heart by Premier Bjelke-Petersen on his 1975 promise of an inquiry into police corruption over which he had prevaricated and obfuscated until this point. Fitzgerald (1989: 40) records that there had been pressure for an inquiry into police behaviour, particularly from the media and the legal profession. What pressure did newspapers bring to bear to reverse this change of heart which resulted in an ineffective inquiry into police behaviour known as the Lucas Inquiry which was specifically barred from investigating corruption? Fitzgerald (1989: 46) said of this inquiry: "From this distance it is possible to see how good motives and decent people were manipulated...to produce a result which allowed corruption to expand and flourish."
Selection criteria: 1,2,3,4,5.
10 The allegations in Parliament and elsewhere in 1978 that there was a conflict of interest when land belonging to Housing and Local Government Minister Russ Hinze was rezoned by the Governor in Council on the recommendation of Local Government Minister Russ Hinze despite strong opposition from local people.
Selection criteria: 1,3,5.
11 Allegations made by two named former police officers on the ABC television program 'Nationwide' in March 1982 of police corruption involving very senior officers.
Selection criteria: 1,2,5.
12 The allegations in 1984 that the Police Commissioner had known for two years of complaints about the activities of a police constable attached to the public relations section who was accused of molesting youths but that the Commissioner had done nothing about the accusations. The Fitzgerald Report records how media allegations led to the Government appointing Des Sturgess QC to conduct an inquiry into the controversy generated by the allegations. How much pressure was exerted by newspapers and did newspapers argue that the inquiry should be open and wide ranging?
Selection criteria: 1,2,4,5.
Having identified the issues to be studied, newspapers were examined for relevant articles, including stories, photographs, cartoons, features, editorials, letters to the editor and any other material which contained mention of the issue or could be reasonably considered relevant. Copies of each title were searched to find the edition in which the issue was first mentioned. Checks were made for any earlier reference to the issue. Each subsequent edition was examined and all relevant articles were photocopied. Searching continued until there was either no further coverage of the issue or the storyline changed so significantly that in essence a new issue was being reported on.
The research, analysis and findings are organised as follows. The issue is identified by an initial heading which also appears on the contents page. Under the sub-heading of 'Background' the issue is put in context by means of a summary of who the key players were, the origins of the issue and the facts as known - and as they became known - to the media and public at the time.
Under the heading of 'Total coverage' a precis of each newspaper item is included in an overall chronological list designed to give an assessment of how coverage of the issue evolved. Each precis is designed not to give an accurate summary of the whole of the newspaper article nor of all of the happenings being written about. The primary function of each precis is to summarise and highlight the allegations being canvassed, new points emerging for the first time, coverage of what the thesis argues is the key point(s) and anything which tends to show the newspaper acting as a watchdog.
Each item in the list includes: the date the article appeared; the name of, or an abbreviation for, the newspaper; the page on which the article appeared; a categorisation of the article; the number of paragraphs; and the headline used. The newspapers are: CM - The Courier-Mail; DS - Daily Sun; SM - The Sunday Mail; SS - Sunday Sun; ST - Sunday Truth; Tele - Telegraph.
The page on which an article appears is relevant in that most newspapers tend to place what they consider to be the most newsworthy and attention-grabbing items on the front page. Something on the front page is likely to have more impact than an article appearing further back in the newspaper. Smaller articles appearing deep in the newspaper are more likely to be overlooked by readers. In the list, if an article starts on one page and continues on another, both page numbers are given.
The following categories have been used to describe articles appearing in the newspapers: news story, sports story, news backgrounder, feature, column, cartoon, editorial. It is argued that most of these categories are self-evident. Where background information is given on a features page which contains a layout and treatment which is obviously different to the news pages, the article is categorised as a feature. Where background information appears on the same page and in the same treatment as news stories it is categorised as a news backgrounder. The label of 'column' is used for an article, usually by-lined, that appears regularly and which contains personal comments or views.
The number of paragraphs is included to give an idea of the impact and importance assigned by the newspaper, and depth of the article. A large story of, say, 20 paragraphs occupies a sizeable part of a page and is likely to grab the attention of the reader: one of half a dozen paragraphs or less is easy to miss. Editorials are often written in a different style and are laid out in a different style, with paragraphs often containing more sentences than stories and features. Where this appears to be the case the number of sentences is also given.
A large headline is more likely to attract readers than a small one. The length of the headline can also be a guide to the importance placed on the story by the newspaper although the size of type used is also very important when it comes to impact. This thesis is principally interested in the message. Headlines that appeared in upper case are given here in upper case.
After each article has been summarised the thesis carries the sub-heading 'Key point' under which an argument is advanced as to what it was that newspapers should have focussed on and why. Coverage by each newspaper touching on this key point is then listed under the sub-heading 'Key point coverage'. The thesis then gives an 'Appraisal' of whether the newspapers identified and focussed on this key point and to what degree the coverage met the criteria developed to measure whether or not newspapers acted in a watchdog role. With some issues it is apparent that there is more than one key point which newspapers might have focussed on. The thesis applies the same treatment to each of those key points.
Where appropriate, the thesis then carries out a 'General analysis' of the reportage of the issue using hegemony, semiotics and discourse analysis, especially in highlighting what the newspapers did not say. Did the newspapers follow the establishment line or were they fiercely independent? Finally, there is an assessment of how coverage of the issue came to an end.
Under the heading of 'Hindsight', the thesis points out the ramifications of the issue: its later effects and what we now know.
End part one.
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