Press Council upholds Chrissie Swan’s complaint against Woman’s Day for photographing her kids

Former Assistant Editor

The Australian Press Council has upheld a complaint filed against Woman’s Day magazine by Nova 100 Breakfast host Chrissie Swan.

The APC outlines that a complaint was filed related to an article published in March 2017 that included multiple candid photographs of Chrissie’s kids, and also stated their names and ages.

The photos were taken by a photographer in hiding, with one captioned with “STAR SPOTTER Your favourite stars … caught on camera” and another of the family at a McDonald’s drive through “Drive-through Maccas is every kid’s dream treat!”

Chrissie is a staunch advocate of keeping her kids out of the limelight, and in her complaint she outlined agreements she has with various publicists to ensure this occurs at public events.

“If that agreement is not reached, she attends without her children,” says a statement by the APC.

“She said her children do not have any commercial endorsement or representation arrangements with anyone, are not in the media industry and are not in the public domain or of any interest to the public.”

Woman’s Day responded by claiming “the article was positive and not disparaging, simply depicting an ordinary public outing of the kind enjoyed by many Australian families.”

In conclusion, the APC considered that “the article was likely to cause substantial distress to the family,” and that Woman’s Day “failed to take reasonable steps to avoid causing substantial offence, distress or prejudice.

“The Council considers that their publication was not in the public interest so as to justify the level of intrusion.”

The APC’s full statement is available here.

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