Herald Sun censured over article claiming public servants were ‘gifted’ a free week off
The Herald Sun has been lambasted by the Australian Press Council for a failing to take reasonable steps to ensure the accuracy around an article alleging public servants were “gifted” a bonus week’s paid holiday between Christmas and New Year’s Day.
The article, which was published on January 13 online under the headline ‘Thousands of public servants got a free week off at Christmas, and critics want to know why’, claimed workers at the Australian Taxation Office, Department of Social Services, Safe Work Australia and Treasury were among the government divisions given three days’ leave on full pay from Wednesday December 28 to Friday December 30, following the Christmas and Boxing Day public holidays.
The News Corp-owned publication told the Press Council its information was obtained from “government sources” and that it had specifically asked all of the government departments named in the article whether they were in effect giving “free” days off.
