The Australian Press Council celebrated its four decades of serving both the public and the news media industry with a major international conference in Sydney between May 4-6.

At 40, the APC is a model for the new National NewsMedia Council of Canada and its assistance in helping set up digital access to the NNC has been much appreciated. The NNC lags behind the APC in convincing digital media to take on responsibility for community standards and ethical journalism, but that picture is beginning to change.

The APC’s president and CEO, Professor David Weisbrot, visited Toronto a few months ago and had extensive consultations with NNC’s president, John Fraser, as the structures of the new NNC were being established. That link has been maintained, although Fraser was unable to attend to the Australian celebration because of conference conflicts in Canada.