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ACA ‘Foreign Docs’ story omitted key facts

A 2007 story about 'shoddy overseas doctors' in Australia neglected to make mention of the Australian qualifications of one of its subjects.

acatg1A Current Affair has been found to have breached the industry code of practice for a 2007 story in which it left out significant facts and failed to correct them at its earliest opportunity.

The segment, titled ‘Foreign Doctors,’ looked at underqualified overseas doctors working in Australia.

GTV9 was found to have neglected reference to the Australian qualifications of one of the subjects in a discussion about care provided to patients. While current affairs programmes are not compelled to include all facts presented to them, the issue is one of misrepresentation.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority has ruled it a significant error of fact which Nine also failed to make reasonable efforts to correct at the earliest opportunity.

In response to the breach findings, the Nine Network has advised ACMA that it has undertaken to:

* include the findings as part of its regular training program for news and current affairs; and
* conduct immediate training in relation to the findings with all relevant A Current Affair production staff.

ACA was last found to have breached the code in relation to facts and fairness in June 2008.

ACMA is currently in ongoing discussions with industry for current affairs programs and says in light of this does not propose, at this stage, to take any action in isolation in relation to the matter.

Source: ACMA

3 Responses

  1. as ive said before aca will do what ever it takes to get a good story even omitting key facts, what they don’t release is that it’s the truth that makes a good story.

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