The Australian Press Council ruled Nov. 6 that six News Corp Australia papers breached its standards with a Feb. 13 print headline that read “Canada school shooter a transgender dropout.” With no clear link between the shooter’s transgender status and the killings, “the prominent and repeated references to that characteristic, including in the headline, were not relevant to the substance of the article and were unfair,” the Council said in Adjudication 1862.
The Daily Telegraph, the Herald Sun and The Courier-Mail ran the story, as did The Mercury, the Gold Coast Bulletin and the Geelong Advertiser. The Council found the papers “failed to take reasonable steps to ensure that factual material was presented with reasonable fairness and balance, in breach of General Principle 3.”
It also found “a breach of General Principle 6,” which reads, “Avoid causing or contributing materially to substantial offence, distress or prejudice, or a substantial risk to health or safety, unless doing so is sufficiently in the public interest,” according to the Council’s Statement of General Principles.
Eight people were killed Feb. 10 in Tumbler Ridge, a community of about 2,700 in northeastern British Columbia, six of them inside Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, Global News reported. “We can’t imagine what the community is going through, but I know it’s causing us all to hug our kids a little bit tighter tonight,” B.C. Premier David Eby told reporters that night.
The suspected shooter was found dead of what appeared to be a self-inflicted injury, Global News reported, and two people were airlifted to the hospital with serious or life-threatening injuries.
Why the Press Council Faulted the ‘Transgender Dropout’ Headline
“The Council recognises that reporting on a mass shooting and on information released by police concerning the alleged perpetrator are matters of legitimate public interest,” the adjudication says. The story reported that an RCMP official had confirmed the shooter’s transgender status at a news conference, according to the Council’s summary.
The prominence the papers gave that detail “could lead some readers to conclude that this characteristic was either a cause of, or a significant factor in, the shootings and could contribute to substantial prejudice against transgender people,” the Council wrote.
Its 2023 advisory guideline on reporting about people with diverse sexual orientation, gender identity and sex characteristics says such references “should be relevant to a story and in the public interest.” “Consideration especially needs to be given to headlines, and the immediate impressions that are conveyed to the general community, who may not always read the detail of an article or opinion,” the guideline adds.
In the U.S., Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey condemned anti-trans hate after the August 2025 shooting at Annunciation Catholic School, and Fox News host Lawrence Jones said people with gender dysphoria shouldn’t own guns after a Rhode Island ice rink shooting in February, Gayety reported. The six papers “failed to take reasonable steps to avoid contributing materially to substantial prejudice,” the Press Council found.
How News Corp’s Six Papers Defended the Story
The adjudication summarizes the papers’ response in the Council’s own words rather than quoting them. “In response, the publications said it is the responsibility of publishers to clearly communicate the facts with readers,” it says. The summary continues, “The story uses the pronoun they/their and this deserves some explanation as the subject is transgender not binary.”
“The publications also said the authorities did not communicate what the shooter’s legal sex status was,” the Council wrote. It said the papers noted that “there was no motive established for the shooting.”
The papers argued that the shooter’s childhood transition might help explain mental health problems, according to the Council’s summary, “not because they were transgender but because of their likely isolation in making the choice to transition.”
Must the Six News Corp Papers Publish the Ruling?
Yes. “Adjudications must be published by the publication in accordance with the Council’s specific requirements,” its complaint-handling rules say, and those requirements cover “the required date, page and positioning, and accompanying material such as headlines.”
“The Council has no power to order compensation, fines or other financial sanctions,” the rules add. Its Statements of Principles “are binding on all publications which are subject to its jurisdiction,” the Council’s standards page says.
In June, the Council found breaches of the same two principles over a Daily Mail Australia headline that called a woman “trans.” “In the absence of a clear link between the reported events and the woman’s transgender status, the Council considers that the prominent reference to ‘trans’ in the headline was not relevant to the substance of the story and was unfair,” Adjudication 1856 says.
Daily Mail Australia said the word got into the headline inadvertently, that the headline had been amended and that it was prepared to undertake further training, according to the adjudication.
