Nine News found guilty of breaching family’s privacy by filming through window in midwife report
The WIN-owned Nine Adelaide has been found guilty of breaching privacy rules after filming through the window of a family’s house during a two-day stakeout. The footage – part of an investigation into a deregistered midwife who was present at the delivery of a newborn baby in the house – was broadcast on Nine News in February. It identified the family involved in the home birth, which was not filmed.
As well as featuring the midwife, the report filmed the father of the family through the window. The news crew also filmed the father and his children outside the house, although the children’s faces were pixelated in the broadcast.
The report told viewers that an ambulance was called because the baby was born not breathing.
The broadcaster unsuccessfully tried to argue that because it did not reveal secret or confidential information it had not breached the family’s privacy. Its claim that its use of the footage was in the pubic interest was also rejected by the Australian Communications and Media Authority.
Yes, their claim that the footage was in the ‘pubic’ interest does sound a little hairy…
Nine Network used the same excuse when they broadcast my birth name and sexuality even though both were never mentioned in court and had nothing to do with the point of their “story”. Grubby journalism by ‘A Current Affair’.