Alice Springs newspaper settles over front-page photo

The boy’s lawyer said the Centralian Advocate implied he was a criminal and a delinquent.

According to his lawyer, the boy was humiliated, outraged sand experienced anxiety as a result of the newspaper's coverage. Source: ABC Australia

An Alice Springs newspaper has settled out of court with the family of an 11-year-old Aboriginal boy whose picture was used to illustrate a front-page story about youth crime.

The boy was with his family at Anzac Oval and was photographed standing behind a chain-link fence.

The Centralian Advocate, the sister paper to News Corp’s NT News, published the unpixelated photo in 2017 with a caption naming the boy and the headline 'Youth crisis: Town split over kids'.

The issue featured a four-page special about juvenile delinquency, crime, police and social services.

The family’s lawyer, Peter O’Brien, who previously represented Dylan Voller at the youth detention royal commission, said that the boy was doing nothing wrong.

A statement of claim filed to the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory said the newspaper implied the boy was “a criminal, a delinquent, that he is imprisoned or detained, and that he is contributing to a crisis situation”.

The matter was settled privately. Both Mr O’Brien and News Corp have not made further comment.