A Current Affair report breached privacy, accuracy and complaints handling rules
Channel Nine’s A Current Affair has been reprimanded by the media watchdog over a report on former Olympic gold medallist Neil Brooks which was found to have breached provisions on accuracy, privacy and complaints handling.
The 19-minute report by reporter Amanda Paterson, broadcast in March of last year, made numerous claims around Brooks and his wife Linda’s financial dealings in Australia and overseas.
In a report released to today the ACMA found that: “The program had insufficient evidence to support its claim during a 5 March, 2012 broadcast that police in Australia, the United States and France were investigating allegations of fraud against the former swimmer and his wife.”
Throughout its 32-page report the ACMA differentiates between various statements made in the program and finds that many statements around alleged fraudulent dealings were not a breach of the station accuracy obligations in the Commercial Television Code of Practice. ACMA said this was either because they were not “factual material” or because evidence provided by the licensee and complainant were inconclusive.
The investigation was complicated by the fact Brooks has served Channel Nine with a concerns notice under the defamation act and is expected to sue the broadcaster.
ACMA also found that A Current Affair had breached privacy provisions of the code when it showed the French address of Linda Brooks. Channel Nine had argued that the inclusion of the address was a central part of the story, however the media watchdog found that the t
he inclusion of her street address in the segment was unnecessary and there
was no identifiable public interest reason for the inclusion.
Channel Nine has accepted the ACMA’s findings and said it will be acknowledging them on its website. It has not taken down the original story which at the time of posting was still on the A Current Affair website
The third breach of the code was in relation to complaints handling. ACMA found that Channel Nine did not adequately respond to the complaint of Brooks.
The code specifies that licensees are not required to respond to complaints where a matter raised has become the subject of legal proceedings. However in this instance the broadcaster was breached because court proceedings had not actually been commenced.
Because the technical nature of the complaints handling breach, the ACMA chose not to take action in relation against the station for infringing this part of the code. However, Channel Nine has conducted training on its complaints handling obligations following the finding.
Nic Christensen
How is A Current Affair still on air? Worst program since Neighbors…NEXT!
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Looks like ACMA hands down a great big nothing once again. I’m sure ACA are quivering in their boots and rethinking their approach to future stories.
Given the piece was run on TV you would think the acknowledgement of wrong doing should run on TV too, not hidden away on the website instead.
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I can’t understand how anyone of sound mind could watch such a ridiculous show. A Current Bullshit, Bullshit Tonight, and 60 Bullshits have reputations for fabricating stories. These shows also have track records of invading people’s privacy and destroying people’s standing within the community. Surely, viewers of these shows are misery vampires.
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ACMA once again shows it’s a toothless tiger. Double standards by the media too – witness the treatment given to an 82 year old former Perth resident with royal honours living the high life in England, compared with Neil Brooks, struggling to make ends meet in England. Brookes has not been charged. These are still only allegations against him made by ACA. Pathetic really.
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Does anyone know what it rates in the metro markets? Pls let us know?
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@DTM: it rates consistently over 1 million each night in 5 city metro.
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I don’t understand how ACA was found guilty by ACMA. Don’t they use the guy who got Fordham off anymore?
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