2DayFM goes to court in bid to prevent ACMA investigation which could see it lose its licence
Christian and Greig
Sydney radio station 2DayFM has made an application to the Federal Court to stop the media watchdog the Australian Communications and Media Authority from continuing its investigation into last year’s “royal prank call” incident.
The move came after the ACMA told 2DayFM what its preliminary findings were. The dramatic move suggests that 2Day FM is in serious danger of losing its licence to broadcast.
According to a statement from ACMA, the authority issued its preliminary findings on the incident to 2DayFM on Tuesday.
ACMA has revealed that one of the things it was considering was whether a condition of the licence that a broadcasting service must not be used “in the commission of an offence” had been breached.
Whereas when normal radio codes are breached, ACMA effectively only has the power to issue a finding or add new conditions to a licence, if an existing licence condition is breached, ACMA has the sanction of suspending or cancelling a radio licence. The move – which would cost owner Southern Cross Austereo millions – has never previously occurred.
In response 2DayFM applied to the Federal Court for orders restraining the ACMA from continuing the investigation and making such a finding of a breach.
In December 2012 ACMA began an investigation of the radio station after hosts Mel Greig and Michael ‘MC’ Christian broadcast a prank call in which they impersonated Prince Charles and The Queen and tricked a nurse on the ward where the Duchess of Cambridge was being treated for acute morning sickness to give out confidential information about her condition.
In the wake of the media controversy that followed the nurse who put the call Jacintha Saldanha took her own life.
In the statement issued by ACMA today the watchdog said it was considering: “(among other matters) whether, in broadcasting that telephone call, Today FM breached the condition of its licence that a licensee must not use its broadcasting service in the commission of an offence (clause 8(1)(g) of Schedule 2 to the Broadcasting Services Act 1992). In particular, the ACMA is considering whether Today FM breached clause 8(1)(g) of Schedule 2 by broadcasting, in contravention of section 11(1) of the Surveillance Devices Act 2007 (NSW), a recording of the telephone call.”
ACMA said intends to contest 2DayFM’s Federal Court application. The date of the hearing is yet to be announced.
SCA issued the following statement:
“Today FM has commenced proceedings in the Federal Court which seek to prevent the ACMA making any finding that Today FM has breached a condition of its broadcasting licence. Today FM considers that the ACMA has no power to make such a finding. The ACMA has no power to investigate whether the recording of a telephone call breaches State or Federal laws and the agencies which do have that power have not conducted an investigation or sought any information from Today FM. Today FM also considers that the recording of the prank call did not breach any law.
“As the issue of the power of the ACMA to make a finding of a licence condition breach will now be decided by the Federal Court Today FM will not make any further comment.”
Nic Christensen
Once again SCA try to avoid responsibility for their broadcasts. Just astounding!
If the ACMA have no power as SCA claim, then what are they good for? We need a regulatory body that can regulate. A regulatory body with the power to enforce change.
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Hey hey HEY!
The ACMA are extremely useful, they provide an address to write complaints to that MAY be investigated which then MAY lead to recommendations which MAY result in some action.
A toothless tiger can still growl a bit, which MAY placate enough people in the community to let the broadcaster continue on their merry way.
See, very useful….to the broadcasters.
Besides what do you want, a real regulatory body with real powers? Geez That would lead to real action against a broadcaster, which in turn would make other broadcasters straighten up and fly right, shudder at the thought, besides that would be an attack on free speech and all that.
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Not necessarily an attack on free speech at all. If SCA are found to have breached the code (and it certainly sounds like they have) they can go and say whatever they like they just wont have the public platform on which to do it!
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Hey everyone Kate’s back – everyone’s favourite anti 2DAY troll. By the way I am saying this tongue in cheek. I admire your persistence!!!
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@PAul ahahhahah.
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Maybe if they hadn’t given them an award ? You know, shown contrition or compassion instead of blatant disregard for everyone else in the chase for ratings. It would be nice if a few more foaming ranters went the same way. It would be a win for everybody
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It’s about time ACMA achieved something. Forcing a station to broadcast an apology between Time X and Time Y isn’t working as a deterrent.
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Here today, gone tomorrow, wishing it was yesterday once more?
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have your banter if that gets your rocks off. Don’t forget a person died here and ACMA should be empowered to hold a broadcaster whatever medium, accountable for their actions.
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Nic,
If you are referring to an Australian commercial radio station being put off the air it has happened to at least one station about 70 years ago.
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SCA Management cannot be responsible for all words written or spoken by their employees. I don’t think SCA should be the target of the ACMA. The creators of an action that leads to somebody taking their own life should be the ones the ACMA needs to concentrate on.
Irrespective of the SCA/Austereo record of being outside community sensibilities at various times, this should be something the SCA Directors should ask of their management, not the ACMA. Listeners meanwhile don’t seem to mind, given the high 2DAY FM ratings. So, does the ACMA go after the listeners for continuing to support the station by removing the station from air, or just the announcers who breach community sensibilities, from air?
One goes after the announcers, not all the staff at 2DDAY FM who did no wrong.
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If the Federal Court allows the matter to proceed and then finds the station has breached a condition of its license, that raises questions about all stations’ abilities to record calls. Strictly speaking, a station that broadcasts a call to a competition winner and records to play back later is breaching that condition and, arguably, by broadcasting the call in the first place.
It wouldn’t surprise me if the other networks get on this bandwagon now – or perhaps on the appeal.
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Honestly one has to wonder if this call was not made would this Nurse still be alive. This Station and the ones that authorized and delivered this prank will have to live with this for the rest of their lives. Not punishment enough in my eyes
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Now Michael Christian has been awarded as a top jock. No consideration of cultural differences – we think it’s funny so you should too? At least give them a six month license suspension, like a bad driver would get from driving.
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The ACMA investigation is focusing on using a “concealed recording device” to capture the call, which is potentially in breach. Competition winners that are broadcast live to air would not be drawn into this, an nor would those who were record if a station said “it’s station xxx and you’re the lucky winner”
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the difference between competition winners and the 2day illegal phone call is that competition winning phone calls are not “private conversations” – winners know and consent to the fact that the conversation is public and will be broadcast. The 2day fm call was thought by the nurses to be a private conversation and they never gave 2day consent to broadcast it.
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Seriously, why is this news? A tragedy happened in that a poor mentally unstable woman took her own life. But seriously, to try and lay sole blame on these DJ’s or 2DayFM just seems to be a massive over reaction. Move on. Let go.
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Surely there are better ways to handle this than to shut down an entire radio station! Yes, what the presenters did was wrong; and the results – which nobody could have predicted – were tragic; but can’t some top people be sacked and some hefty fines invoked, rather than pulling the plug on a whole station?
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I reckon it’s less about 2Day now and more about a warning signal to every other broadcaster to sharpen up their act or go silent. Too much loose behavior around. A short sharp salutary lesson for all broadcasters. Off the air for a week I reckon. The current generation of management has to learn what broadcasters of old have known for ages: broadcasting on publicly owned frequencies is a privilege, stay clean, fess up to f**k ups and be polite to the men from the ministry who have the power to shut you down.
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‘delirious’ – finally some sanity in this crazy business! I wholeheartedly agree.
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None of this would be happening if the nurse did not take her own life, it would have been forgotten, one must ask what was said by the royals to the nurse in between the call and her taking her own life.
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