Editing Herald Sun (section)

===Other controversies===
====Australian Greens policy on drugs====
Shortly before the [[2004 Australian federal election|2004 election]], the ''Herald Sun'' published an article entitled "Greens back illegal drugs" (''Herald Sun'', 31 August 2004) written by [[Gerard McManus]] which made a number of claims about the [[Australian Greens]] based on their harm minimisation and decriminalisation policies posted on their website at the time. The Greens complained to the [[Australian Press Council]]. The text of their adjudication reads:

{{blockquote|In the context of an approaching election, the potential damage was considerable. The actual electoral impact cannot be known but readers were seriously misled. [...] The claims made in the original article were seriously inaccurate and breached the Council's guiding principles of checking the accuracy of what is reported, taking prompt measures to counter the effects of harmfully inaccurate reporting, ensuring that the facts are not distorted, and being fair and balanced in reports on matters of public concern.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/apc/2005/3.html|title=Adjudication No. 1270 (adjudicated February 2005) [2005] APC 3|website=www.austlii.edu.au|access-date=8 May 2018}}</ref>}}

====Contempt of court for source protection====
In June 2007, two ''Herald Sun'' journalists, Michael Harvey and [[Gerard McManus]], were found guilty in the Victorian County Court of contempt of court after refusing to disclose the source of a story the pair wrote in the ''Herald Sun'' on Australian Government plans to scale back proposed veterans entitlements. The controversy resulted in agitation to change the law to introduce "shield laws" in Australia to take into consideration the journalists' code of ethics.<ref>[[R v McManus and Harvey]]</ref>

====African gangs moral panic====
Following fighting at the 2016 [[Moomba Festival]] in Melbourne, the paper embarked on a 32-month campaign employing racialised language attacking supposed [[African gangs moral panic|African gangs]] in the city.<ref name="Kounmouris-2021">{{cite journal |last1=Kounmouris |first1=Gregory |last2=Blaustein |first2=Jarrett |title=Reporting 'African gangs': Theorising journalistic practice during a multi-mediated moral panic |journal=Crime, Media, Culture |date=2021 |volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=105–125 |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10.1177/1741659021991205 |access-date=15 June 2024}}</ref><ref name="Benier">{{cite web |last1=Benier |first1=Kathryn |last2=Blaustein |first2=Jarrett |last3=Johns |first3=Diana |last4=Maher |first4=Sarah |title=‘Don’t drag me into this’ Growing up South Sudanese in Victoria after the 2016 Moomba 'riot' |url=https://cmy.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Dont-Drag-Me-Into-This-Research-Report-Oct-2018-FINAL.pdf |website=Centre for Multicultural Youth |publisher=Monash University |access-date=15 June 2024 |archive-date=15 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240615173322/https://cmy.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Dont-Drag-Me-Into-This-Research-Report-Oct-2018-FINAL.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Civic and state leaders, community members and the police denied that any such gangs existed, but the paper published 130 articles over a two year period featuring the words "Sudanese" and "gang",<ref name="Benier">{{cite web |last1=Benier |first1=Kathryn |last2=Blaustein |first2=Jarrett |last3=Johns |first3=Diana |last4=Maher |first4=Sarah |title=‘Don’t drag me into this’ Growing up South Sudanese in Victoria after the 2016 Moomba 'riot' |url=https://cmy.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Dont-Drag-Me-Into-This-Research-Report-Oct-2018-FINAL.pdf |website=Centre for Multicultural Youth |publisher=Monash University |access-date=15 June 2024 |archive-date=15 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240615173322/https://cmy.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Dont-Drag-Me-Into-This-Research-Report-Oct-2018-FINAL.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> and 173 (including 37 editorials) mentioning "Apex" a supposed gang for which little evidence existed.<ref name="Kounmouris-2021">{{cite journal |last1=Kounmouris |first1=Gregory |last2=Blaustein |first2=Jarrett |title=Reporting 'African gangs': Theorising journalistic practice during a multi-mediated moral panic |journal=Crime, Media, Culture |date=2021 |volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=105–125 |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10.1177/1741659021991205 |access-date=15 June 2024}}</ref> The racialising and criminalising coverage of [[African Australians]] increased racism against this group and created many problems for the community.<ref name="Benier-2020">{{cite journal |last1=Benier |first1=Kathryn |last2=Wickes |first2=Rebecca |last3=Moran |first3=Clare |title='African gangs' in Australia: Perceptions of race and crime in urban neighbourhoods |journal=Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology |date=2020 |volume=54 |issue=2 |pages=1–19 |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0004865820965647#:~:text=This%20event%20led%20to%20a,and%20institutionalised%20forms%20of%20discrimination. |access-date=14 June 2024 |archive-date=14 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240614122747/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0004865820965647#:~:text=This%20event%20led%20to%20a,and%20institutionalised%20forms%20of%20discrimination. |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Majavu-2018">{{cite journal |last1=Majavu |first1=Mandisi |title=The 'African gangs' narrative: associating Blackness with criminality and other anti-Black racist tropes in Australia |journal=African and Black Diaspora|date=2018 |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=27–39 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17528631.2018.1541958 |access-date=23 June 2024}}</ref> The Herald Sun's intense focus on criminality in the [[Sudanese Australian]] community, out of all proportion from its real scale, has been described by academics as playing a key role in fomenting a [[moral panic]].<ref name="Majavu-2018" /><ref name="Benier-2020" /><ref name="Benier" /><ref name="Kounmouris-2021" />

====Cartoon of Serena Williams====
Following [[Serena Williams]]' claim of sexist behaviour by umpire [[Carlos Ramos (umpire)|Carlos Ramos]] at the 2018 U.S. Open women's final, the ''Herald Sun''{{'s}} cartoonist [[Mark Knight]] drew an illustration of the match which was described as sexist and racist. In the cartoon, Williams is shown to have smashed her racket whilst a baby's dummy lays on the floor. Knight's illustration has been compared by some, including the political cartoonist and ''[[The Washington Post|Washington Post]]'' columnist [[Michael Cavna]], to illustrations popular during the [[Jim Crow laws|Jim Crow era]] in the United States.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2018/09/10/an-australian-artists-racist-serena-williams-cartoon-receives-swift-and-international-blowback/|title=An Australian artist's racist Serena Williams cartoon receives swift and international blowback|last1=Cavna|first1=Michael|newspaper=Washington Post|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210104055825/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2018/09/10/an-australian-artists-racist-serena-williams-cartoon-receives-swift-and-international-blowback/ |archive-date=4 January 2021 |language=en|date=12 September 2018|access-date=2018-10-01}}</ref> Knight is also accused of making Williams' Japanese opponent, [[Naomi Osaka]], appear as a "white woman". Following this, there was significant condemnation of both the ''Herald Sun'' and Knight for the use of this image by the author [[J. K. Rowling]] and [[Jesse Jackson]] amongst others.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/sep/11/repugnant-racist-news-corp-cartoon-serena-williams-mark-knight|title='Repugnant, racist': News Corp cartoon on Serena Williams condemned|first=Helen|last=Davidson|date=11 September 2018|website=the Guardian}}</ref> The ''Herald Sun'' defended its decision to publish the cartoon and two days after its initial publication, the cartoon was reprinted in part along with a series of other illustrations by Knight on its front page under the caption "WELCOME TO PC WORLD."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-45487873|title=Newspaper defends 'racist' Serena cartoon|work=BBC News|date=11 September 2018}}</ref>