Big-Issues.Org

This is a work-in-progress note on the way Australia controls how broadcast media presents news and current affairs type content.

 

Australian Law

This is an area solely under Commonwealth jurisdiction according to the Constitution. The relevant Act is the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 as amended, which includes the following:

Objects [Section 3]

... (b) to provide a regulatory environment that will facilitate the development of a broadcasting industry in Australia that is efficient, competitive and responsive to audience needs; and
(ba) to provide a regulatory environment that will facilitate the development of a datacasting industry in Australia that is efficient, competitive and responsive to audience and user needs; and
... (g) to encourage providers of commercial and community broadcasting services to be responsive to the need for a fair and accurate coverage of matters of public interest and for an appropriate coverage of matters of local significance;" ...

Development of codes of practice [Section 123]

(1) It is the intention of the Parliament that radio and television industry groups representing ... [the various licence types]:

develop, in consultation with the ACMA and taking account of any relevant research conducted by the ACMA, codes of practice that are to be applicable to the broadcasting operations of each of those sections of the industry.

(2) Codes of practice developed for a section of the broadcasting industry may relate to: ...
(d) promoting accuracy and fairness in news and current affairs programs ...

Comment: Seems a very light coverage of the goals of accuracy and balanced coverage of issues of public interest, though perhaps this is intentionally left to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) that is empowered by the Act.

Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) acma.gov.au

ACMA's approach to content regulation is as a hands-off adjunct to industry self-regulation, and its website description includes:

Radio and TV stations themselves have the primary responsibility for ensuring that the material they broadcast reflects community standards. Most aspects of program content are governed by codes of practice developed by industry groups representing the various broadcasting sectors. The ACMA registers codes once it is satisfied that broadcasters have undertaken public consultation and the codes contain appropriate community safeguards. ...

The ACMA has also determined further program standards and licence conditions dealing with particular issues. For example, commercial radio licensees are subject to standards requiring the disclosure of commercial agreements by presenters of current affairs programs.

The ACMA monitors matters relating to some standards and licence conditions and investigates complaints about them from the public. The ACMA also acts as an independent adjudicator where complaints about matters relating to codes of practice, including the ABC and SBS codes of practice, are not resolved between the complainant and the broadcaster concerned. Where ACMA finds a breach of a code of practice, licence condition or standard, the ACMA may take enforcement action to ensure future compliance.

Commercial Radio News & Current Affairs

Commercial Radio Australia Code of Practice - represents the industry self-regulation code. The current Codes of Practice & Guidelines (10 June 2010) includes:

1.1 A licensee must not broadcast a program which, in all of the circumstances ... (b) simulates news or events in such a way as to mislead or alarm listeners;

 

2 The purpose of this Code is to promote accuracy and fairness in news and current affairs programs.
2.1 News programs (including news flashes) broadcast by a licensee must:
(a) present news accurately;
(b) not present news in such a way as to create public panic, or unnecessary distress to reasonable listeners;
(c) distinguish news from comment; and
(d) not use material relating to a person’s personal or private affairs, or which invades an individual’s privacy, unless there is a public interest in broadcasting such information.
2.2 In the preparation and presentation of current affairs programs, a licensee must use reasonable efforts to ensure that:
(a) factual material is reasonably supportable as being accurate; and
(b) substantial errors of fact are corrected at the earliest possible opportunity.
A failure to comply with the requirement in Code 2.2(a) to broadcast factual material that is reasonably supportable as being accurate will not be taken to be a breach of the Code if a correction, which is adequate and appropriate in all the circumstances, is made within 30 business days of the licensee receiving a complaint or a complaint
being referred to the ACMA (whichever is later).
2.3 In the preparation and presentation of current affairs programs a licensee must ensure that:
(a) the reporting of factual material is clearly distinguishable from commentary and analysis;
(b) reasonable efforts are made or reasonable opportunities are given to present significant viewpoints when dealing with controversial issues of public importance, either within the same program or similar programs, while the issue has immediate
relevance to the community;
(c) viewpoints expressed to the licensee for broadcast are not misrepresented and material is not presented in a misleading manner by giving wrong or improper emphasis or by editing out of context; and
(d) the licensee does not use material relating to a person’s personal or private affairs, or which invades an individual’s privacy, unless there is a public interest in broadcasting such information.

 

7 The purpose of this Code is to promote compliance with the requirements of these Codes of Practice.
7.1 Licensees must comply with the Codes, but a failure to comply will not be a breach of the Codes if that failure is due to:
(a) material being broadcast which the licensee believed on reasonable grounds did not breach the Codes; or
(b) a reasonable mistake; or
(c) reasonable reliance on information supplied by another person; or
(d) an act or default of another person, or to an accident or some other cause beyond the licensee’s control and the licensee took reasonable precautions and exercised due diligence to avoid the failure.

ACMA Commercial Radio Standards - In addition three ACMA Commercial Radio Standards were determined on 21 November 2000 (under subsection 125 (1) of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992). Unlike industry codes of practice, compliance with standards is a condition of a broadcaster's licence. The standards commenced operation on 15 January 2001 intially till 2003 in response to the ABA Cash for Comment Inquiry Final Report (2000) which found industry self-regulation wanting and were extended indefinitely in March 2003.

The standards are:

• Broadcasting Services (Commercial Radio Compliance Program) Standard 2000 - requires the establishment of compliance programs by licensees
• Broadcasting Services (Commercial Radio Advertising) Standard 2000 - requires advertisements to be distinguished from other programs
• Broadcasting Services (Commercial Radio Current Affairs Disclosure) Standard 2000 - requires the disclosure of commercial agreements by presenters of current affairs programs and includes the following:
  

  3. Object of standard

  The object of this standard is to encourage commercial radio broadcasting licensees to be responsive to the need for a fair and accurate coverage of matters of public interest by requiring the disclosure of commercial agreements that have the potential to affect the content of current affairs programs.

  4. Application of standard

  This standard applies to all commercial radio broadcasting licensees who broadcast current affairs programs.

  5. What this standard does

  This standard requires:

  • on-air disclosure during current affairs programs of commercial agreements between sponsors and presenters that have the potential to affect the content of those programs; and
  • on-air disclosure during current affairs programs of the payment of production costs by advertisers and sponsors; and
  • licensees to keep a register of commercial agreements between sponsors and presenters of current affairs programs and make it available to the ABA and the public; and
  • licensees to ensure that a condition of employment of presenters of current affairs programs is that they comply with relevant obligations imposed by the Act, the codes and this standard.

  6. Definitions
  ... current affairs program means a program a substantial purpose of which is to provide interviews, analysis, commentary or discussion, including open-line discussion with listeners, about current social, economic or political issues.

Public Broadcast Media

This includes the two national and nationally funded Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) and Special Broadcasting Service (SBS), and may also be considered to include non-profit Community Broadcasters.

ABC Code of Practice 2011 (applies to radio and free to air TV) - includes:

Part IV - 2. Accuracy
Principles:
The ABC has a statutory duty to ensure that the gathering and presentation of news and information is accurate according to the recognised standards of objective journalism. Credibility depends heavily on factual accuracy.
Types of fact-based content include news and analysis of current events, documentaries, factual dramas and lifestyle programs. The ABC requires that reasonable efforts must be made to ensure accuracy in all fact-based content. The ABC gauges those efforts by reference to:
• the type, subject and nature of the content;
• the likely audience expectations of the content;
• the likely impact of reliance by the audience on the accuracy of the content; and
• the circumstances in which the content was made and presented.
The ABC accuracy standard applies to assertions of fact, not to expressions of opinion. An opinion, being a value judgement or conclusion, cannot be found to be accurate or inaccurate in the way facts can. The accuracy standard requires that opinions be conveyed accurately, in the sense that quotes should be accurate and any editing should not distort the meaning of the opinion expressed.
The efforts reasonably required to ensure accuracy will depend on the circumstances. Sources with relevant expertise may be relied on more heavily than those without. Eyewitness testimony usually carries more weight than second-hand accounts. The passage of time or the inaccessibility of locations or sources can affect the standard of verification reasonably required.
The ABC should make reasonable efforts, appropriate in the context, to signal to audiences gradations in accuracy, for example by querying interviewees, qualifying bald assertions, supplementing the partly right and correcting the plainly wrong.

Standards:
2.1 Make reasonable efforts to ensure that material facts are accurate and presented in context.
2.2 Do not present factual content in a way that will materially mislead the audience. In some cases, this may require appropriate labels or other explanatory information.

Part IV - 4. Impartiality and diversity of perspectives
Principles:
The ABC has a statutory duty to ensure that the gathering and presentation of news and information is impartial according to the recognised standards of objective journalism.
Aiming to equip audiences to make up their own minds is consistent with the public service character of the ABC. A democratic society depends on diverse sources of reliable information and contending opinions. A broadcaster operating under statute with public funds is legitimately expected to contribute in ways that may differ from commercial media, which are free to be partial to private interests.
Judgements about whether impartiality was achieved in any given circumstances can vary among individuals according to their personal and subjective view of any given matter of contention. Acknowledging this fact of life does not change the ABC’s obligation to apply its impartiality standard as objectively as possible. In doing so, the ABC is guided by these hallmarks of impartiality:
• a balance that follows the weight of evidence;
• fair treatment;
• open-mindedness; and
• opportunities over time for principal relevant perspectives on matters of contention to be expressed.
The ABC aims to present, over time, content that addresses a broad range of subjects from a diversity of perspectives reflecting a diversity of experiences, presented in a diversity of ways from a diversity of sources, including content created by ABC staff, generated by audiences and commissioned or acquired from external content-makers.
Impartiality does not require that every perspective receives equal time, nor that every facet of every argument is presented.
Assessing the impartiality due in given circumstances requires consideration in context of all relevant factors including:
• the type, subject and nature of the content;
• the circumstances in which the content is made and presented;
• the likely audience expectations of the content;
• the degree to which the matter to which the content relates is contentious;
• the range of principal relevant perspectives on the matter of contention; and
• the timeframe within which it would be appropriate for the ABC to provide opportunities for the principal relevant perspectives to be expressed, having regard to the public importance of the matter of contention and the extent to
which it is the subject of current debate.

Standards:
4.1 Gather and present news and information with due impartiality.
4.2 Present a diversity of perspectives so that, over time, no significant strand of thought or belief within the community is knowingly excluded or disproportionately represented.
4.3 Do not state or imply that any perspective is the editorial opinion of the ABC. The ABC takes no editorial stance other than its commitment to fundamental democratic principles including the rule of law, freedom of speech and religion, parliamentary democracy and equality of opportunity.
4.4 Do not misrepresent any perspective.
4.5 Do not unduly favour one perspective over another.

Television

SBS Codes of Practice 2006 (Amended August 2010) - also applies to SBS Radio - includes:

Code 2 - News and Current Affairs

2.1 Introduction
This Code applies to all programs produced by the News and Current Affairs division of SBS, produced by SBS Radio for inclusion in the News and Current Affairs segments in SBS Radio's programs. Television news and current affairs programs produced overseas are dealt with in Code 3.

2.2 Accuracy, Impartiality and Balance
SBS is committed to achieving the highest standard of news and current affairs presentation. To this end, all reasonable effort must be made to ensure that the factual content of news and current affairs programs is accurate, having regard to the circumstances, and facts known, at the time of preparing and broadcasting the programs.
SBS will take reasonable steps to ensure timely correction of significant errors of fact.
The requirement for accuracy does not mean that an exhaustive coverage of all factual material relating to matters broadcast must be presented.
While the emphasis in news is the reporting of factual information, news programs, as well as current affairs programs, may include comment and analysis.
Reasaonble effort should be made to ensure news and current affairs programs are balanced and impartial, having regard to the circumstances at the time of reporting and broadcasting, the nature and immediacy of hte material being reported, and public interest considerations.
The commitment to balance and impartiality requires SBS to present - over time and across the schedule of programs broadcast on the relevant service (Television, Radio or Online) - a wide range of significant views, not misrepresenting them or unduly favouring one over another.
It does not require SBS to present all viewpoints on an issue or to allocate equal time to different points of view. Neither does it preclude a critical examination of controversial issues or the expression of critical and provocative points of view.
The decision as to whether it is appropriate for a range of views or particular views to be included within a single program or story is a matter for editorial discretion.
In relation to news programs, for major issues that are matters of controversy, balance should be provided through the presentation, as far as possible, of principal relevant viewpoints. ...

Code 3 - Overseas News and Current Affairs
SBS Television broadcasts, substantially unedited, news and current affairs programs from other countries. ... In selecting such programming, SBS endeavours to ensure a level of quality which is appropriate to the SBS schedule. These programs are drawn from a variety of overseas sources - government, commercial and public - and are often produced and interpreted from particular editorial perspectives. Prior to broadcast, SBS will clearly identify the source of the programs so that audiences can exercise their own judgement about how issues and information are presented. ...

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