Unless the media watchdog wakes up, the Kyle and Jackie O rape debacle will change nothing
It is now clear that when Kyle Sandilands uttered the words “Right. Is that your only experience?”, he was using the most disastrous six words of his career. But the furore of the last five days goes beyond a single segment on a single show.
It also says a lot about standards at Australia’s broadcasters and their regulation, or lack of them.
Sandilands
Working backwards, Sandilands has taken the most immediate hit. Not just because his role is that of the pantomime baddy, but because of how he handled the crisis.
His defenders would point out that almost as soon as he spoke his initial, cold words, he began to backpeddle.
But I believe in the argument that the reason why airline pilots are so highly paid is not for the days when everything goes right and the autopilot is in control. It’s for how they react in the split second when it actually matters.
Of course, broadcasting is not life or death – although last week’s episode demonstrates that people’s lives are affected – but the same principle applies. One of the reasons any presenter is well rewarded is because there are moments when they have to make the correct, instant judgement call when every other safety net has snapped.
By that standard, he failed.
The production team
In terms of immediate responsibility, the chain of command goes to whoever was producing the show. Asking an underage girl about her sexual activities always carried a real chance that something would go wrong. But a key question is whether the production team behind the scenes has any real power. I suspect what Sandilands want, Sandilands gets. I’m told by people who’ve worked with him that Sandilands has just as much an ego off air as he does on.
Austereo management
Which brings us to the senior management. It came as a shock to me (and I suspect to others too) about the tawdry nature of that show, as I’m not a regular listener. Like many people, it took last week’s incident and a look at the show’s website to realise that demeaning, tacky content is the norm. Indeed, that’s what’s made it Sydney’s number one FM show, and highly popular in other cities too.
And then there’s the same team’s actions, or lack of them, after this blew up. The show stayed on the air for the rest of the week while the controversy grew, and last night’s statement makes the network look weaker still by suggesting the decision to stand down was Sandilands’ rather than Austereo’s.
Contrast that with the ABC (which as a publically funded broadcaster is admittedly held to higher standards) and how it handled The Chaser’s Make A Realistic Wish Foundation sketch. It rapidly took the show off the air, investigated, demoted a senior member of staff for the blunder and had it back up again after a gap of two weeks. It messed up, it dealt with it and moved on. What could have been a lingering sore is already behind them.
It strikes me that Austereo isn’t likely to discipline its number one team. And the management certainly isn’t going to discipline itself. So expect them to give it a fortnight or so for things to die down, then there’ll be a platitudinous statement (probably sneaked out on a Friday afternoon or Sunday night), putting the show back on the air. The same statement will probably also effectively change some poor sod’s job title from junior researcher to scapegoat.
But a network’s job is to maximise the ratings. And that means pushing to the boundaries of the rules, so you can’t blame them too much. They’ll do what they can get away with – it’s what the shareholders would demand.
The media watchdog
Which in turn suggests that any lead needs to come from the regulator, which in this case is ACMA, the Australian Communications and Media Authority.
Regulating public taste is a minefield, and it looks like ACMA wants no part of this. When it believes there is an issue to look at, it can initiate its own investigation – as it did for cash for comment – rather than wait til a station has dealt with complaints first – which is has 60 days to do. So the chances of ACMA offering a view on this at any point during 2009 seem slim.
Indeed, when ACMA releases a finding against a TV or radio company, it tends to have three things in common – it’s about events that happened months or years before; there’s no fine or other sanction; and there’s always a vague promise of tighter procedures and staff training. It does seem that – unless you’re Alan Jones or John Laws – you can get away with just about anything.
Sadly, I don’t think last week’s events will really change anything.
Tim Burrowes
On the contrary, I think this incident has changed things significantly and who cares whether the watchdog is involved.
This incident has demonstrated that public sentiment is a powerful weapon, and the ability for anyone to propel opinion over the internet via Twitter, Facebook and a gazillion other avenues has an enormous impact.
It was evident the day it happened that the key stakeholders involved – the presenters, the network and the sponsors – thought it a minor, very recoverable hiccup and in a matter of days could continue the bad taste journey for fat profits.
It took almost a week, but ultimately they couldn’t ignore the tsunami of vehement public distaste, and when Optus was thrust into the spotlight as a financial supporter of the shocking show, we saw action. And my tip is if Austereo does try to sneak the team back on air, there will be an equally big backlash. That show has been rubbish for a long time and this is just the straw that broke the camel’s back.
As a media property, Kyle’s star is dead – he buried Big Brother, he’s burying Australian Idol, and he’s buried his own high rating show. No sponsor in Australia would want to touch him with a 10,000 mile pole at the moment, and I can’t see that changing for the foreseeable future, so I seriously doubt we’ll see him ‘sneak’ back on air.
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Yes, where is the RADIO WATCH DOG ANYWAY!
ASLEEP OR THERE DOES NOT SEEM TO BE A WATCH DOG.
I go back a few months when Kyle said he hated Wednesday’s because they were in his word “C” Days. because he had to stay at the station for production meetings.
I wonder if his majority audience of under 18 year olds went to school that day and told their teachers that Wednesdays were C Days. Thanks uncle Kyle for my junk on air.
He should have been kicked off air that day. But what happened to the Radio Watch Dog?
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I got two questions in response:
a) all programs work in 7 second delay – why are Austereo obfuscating over a basic feature of radio broadcasting? Were they in delay or not? If they were… then all defences are void. Two overpaid, overconfident, undertrained idiots are liable for everything thrown at them.
b) as for your call that “..a network’s job is to maximise the ratings.”
– you might want to ask Tony Martin what he thinks about ratings, taste and Austereo!
As for your question about radio watchdog – let’s see now: Alan Jones goes on air and calls for a race riot = no charge, no inquiry, no punishment. Why would any other loudmouth commercial hack have anything to fear from such a toothless old nanny like ACMA?
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Excellent summary Tim, and I couldn’t agree more.
There is however one further difference between The Chaser skit and K&JO. The Chaser was a skit, abeit in extremely poor taste and grossly offensive to those third-parties in the scenario portrayed. However, the people immediately involved were actors and not victims. On K&JO, the girl was the victim in so many ways.
The interesting comparison to me is how the public broadcaster handled the furore, versus how the commercial broadcaster has. All broadcasters need to be held to the same standards and they need to be of the highest calibre.
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I’m glad Tim, that we have journalists like you keeping the bastards honest. Who was it that said people get the politicians they deserve? It’s the #1 show for a reason.
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I’m relieved to see that rape and sexual abuse/harassment is finally being taken seriously. First Matty Johns now Kyle and Jackie O. Exploitation of anyone under any circumstances should never be celebrated. I was beginning to give up hope on humanity … but the media events of this year are starting to give me hope that there is some compassion left in the world. I’m sad for the victims but proud of the people who have stood up for their rights.
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it is an interesting point, that as you point out that ACMA is quick to slap John Laws on the wrist every time he said Toyota (and IIRC the latest ruling on Laws has cost his former employer $250k!), but the sort of vile material that passes for ‘entertainment’ on various breakfast radio shows (and let’s face it, 2DAY isn’t alone here though theirs would have been the worst on the scale of things) goes without ACMA blinking an eye. Seems that ACMA is only interested in policing the AM band. Perhaps they just don’t have FM radios in the ACMA offices?!?
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@Jay – the Kyle and Jackie O show do not use the “10 second” delay as used on other radio shows – although they would be well advised to do so in future 😉
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