Nine Radio responds to ‘heavily onerous’ breach hit to 2GB’s Ben Fordham
Nine Radio has responded to a breach it was issued by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) this week, involving 2GB’s Ben Fordham.
On Tuesday, it was revealed that 2GB and 3AW breached broadcasting rules by failing to disclose commercial agreements between their presenters and companies featured in their current affairs programs.
An investigation by ACMA into the Ben Fordham Live program found that comments that were favourable to ride-share company Uber breached broadcasting laws as there was “a commercial agreement in place between Uber and the program host at the time of the broadcast [that] was not disclosed on-air”.
Separately, a 3AW Afternoons broadcasts from August 2023 found that comments “favourable to automotive manufacturer BMW were made by the program host without disclosing that there was a commercial agreement in place between BMW and the host”.
The stations issued with remedial directions requiring relevant current affairs presenters, producers and sales staff to undertake formal training on the commercial disclosure requirements, and may seek civil penalties if a licensee does not comply with a remedial direction.
In a statement given to Mumbrella, Nine Radio said it acknowledged the finding and “moved quickly to update their commercial registers and adjust any third party agreements as required”.
2GB’s Ben Fordham
“The Disclosure Standard was introduced 24 years ago to prevent broadcasters from passing commercial content as editorial content. It only applies to commercial radio programs who’s substantive purpose is to provide interviews, analysis, commentary or discussion, including open‑line discussion with listeners, about current social, economic or political issues,'” Nine Radio’s statement reads.
“This has the effect of excluding all Sports and Entertainment based shows. I.e – the only programs captured by the Disclosure Standard are commercial talk radio news based shows. Music stations and shows are exempt. The ABC is exempt. Listeners to commercial music stations would have no idea if what they are listening to is editorial or advertorial. Listeners to the ABC would have no idea if a broadcaster has a vested interest, or if the station has a promotional agreement with a local festival or event.
“Only Nine’s radio stations are obliged to make the appropriate disclosures.
“The standard is heavily onerous, relying on constant vigilance to determine news content from sport or entertainment content, and define broadcasters as either full time or part time – but the modern broadcaster moves easily between content genres and between part time and full time employment.”
Nine Radio has also told Mumbrella that is has increased training, updated employment contracts, and will conduct checks “more frequently” to ensure compliance.
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Neil Griffiths is the Managing Editor of Mumbrella. He joined the company in October 2023.
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Uber
lol weren’t these laws originally introduced because Ben Fordham’s mentor, Alan Jones (and John Laws), was doing exactly the same thing? Might be worth mentioning.
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Only onerous as they got caught before and thus is their consequence, so cry us all a river
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