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60 Minutes breaches ACMA codes in suicide story

The Australian Communications and Media Authority has found that TCN9 breached safeguards for reports about suicide on 60 Minutes last year.

Nine also failed to adequately warn viewers about the potentially distressing material prior to the segment.

In the segment, “Web of Darkness” presented by Liam Bartlett (pictured) the suicide pact of two teenagers included a detailed description of the suicide method, and was found to be not straightforward in its presentation of the facts.

While Nine did carry a warning, it did not precede the segment.

‘Reports about suicide pose complex issues for the media,’ said Chris Chapman, ACMA Chairman. ‘While there are legitimate public interest reasons for covering certain incidents in news and current affairs programs, extreme care must be taken to ensure that stories of this nature do not inadvertently encourage vulnerable members of the community to imitate the behaviour.

‘For this reason, in addition to requiring that there be a legitimate public interest reasons for broadcasting such a report, the code also imposes restrictions on the way the subject matter is treated.’

Nine has advised ACMA it will incorporate the findings in its staff training program. ACMA has also instructed Nine to supply help line numbers to viewers.

The last time 60 Minutes was found to have breached ACMA codes was in 2005, “using material that invaded an individual’s privacy when there were no public interest reasons for the material to be broadcast.”

Source: AMCA

One Response

  1. 6:30 last night while I was eating my evening meal, there was a story on about marijuana use. I don’t recall any warnings being mentioned before the story began.

    Watching a guy use his bong was a bit wrong for that timeslot, but it didn’t bother me too much. But when they were slicing a brain I almost lost my dinner. Warnings please…

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