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Nine on ACMA watchlist

Channel Nine has given an undertaking to ACMA with a monthly report of how it addresses audience complaints or face tough penalties.

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Channel Nine will now be on its best-behaviour when it comes to addressing viewer complaints after giving the Australian Communications and Media Authority an enforceable undertaking.

“This undertaking follows numerous breaches of complaint-handling provisions since 2006 by the Nine Network, which Nine itself had acknowledged to be unacceptable,” said ACMA Chairman, Chris Chapman. “By offering this EU, Nine has shown its commitment to address the problem and the ACMA welcomes its pro-active approach.”

Viewers concerned about code breaches must first complain, in writing, to the station involved. The broadcaster then has 30 working days to respond to the complaint.

“It is important for members of the public to feel confident that TV stations will respond, substantively and promptly, when they make a complaint about a code matter,” he added.

Nine must provide ACMA with a monthly report of audience complaints received and how the network has addressed them or it will face tough penalties.

Key features of the Nine Network undertaking are:

  • Nine will send responses to postal complaints by either registered mail or Express Post
  • Nine will maintain a register of all code complaints
  • Nine will provide the ACMA with a monthly report on complaints received and processed
  • Nine will provide the ACMA with quarterly reports on compliance prepared by an independent auditor

The unprecedented slap follows a persistent pattern of code breaches.

Nine has been found in breach of the code 17 times in the past two years. This year’s breaches include Nine News failing to correct significant errors of fact; Airing a political advertisement during the Election blackout period; Failing to meet captioning requirements.

But some of its more serious breaches resulted saw The Footy Show (AFL) pay $200,000 to charity for ridiculing a Malaysian man during a skit and Nine giving enforceable undertakings to ACMA to allay concerns over Underbelly and Gordon Ramsay classifications. In 2009 Nine provided a confidential estimate of its revenue for the timeslots which ACMA could use as a fine if the undertakings were breached.

In 2009 Sam Newman’s infamous “mannequin” stunt saw him slapped for provoking severe ridicule against sports journalist Caroline Wilson on the grounds of gender. The stunt caused an uproar in the media with Newman stood down and ordered to undergo anti-discrimination training. Both Newman and The Footy Show were put on a 6 month ACMA watch-list.

A Nine spokesperson told the Daily Telegraph it had “greatly improved its complaints handling processes in recent times and this has been acknowledged by the ACMA. Nine believes its current complaints handling process is industry best practice.”

ACMA has previously conceded it has no power to fine TV networks.

21 Responses

  3. One suspects that the commercial FTA channels are operated by persons probably best suited to run a low-rent shop front on the fringe of a major shopping mall. You know the type, one notch down from the $2 shop. Or secreted in a shed behind the shonky used-car dealer in the backblocks of an industrial “estate”.

    These people prey on pimply-faced teenagers, fat people, intellectually challenged ute drivers, the halt and the lame, and News Limited readers.

    My point is this: We now have wonderful technology. Clear, bright reception. Best ever. However. We have a FTA commercial industry run by cowboys and blatant shonks, with no regard for viewers. They are incapable of self-regulation.

  4. LJP:

    You list just a few of the many complaints about commercial FTA television, and I agree. Well said. It’s a mess. Self-regulation does not work. Cowboys are, by definition, non-thinkers.

    I feel confident there are some members of ACMA who are itching to take the channels to task, on various fronts, but are prevented by legislation, that is: rules and regulations finely crafted by the Howard Government and his lackeys in the right-wing media.

    The mess we have now is the legacy of those wasted years.

  5. Bet they won’t do anything about – too many ads, programs running overtime, last minute schedule changes, banner ads during programs, the sound level for ads, too many repeats, EPG errors, local content on Digital Channels, etc. ACMA is a toothless tiger and the Govt is so scared of the Media Owners to make any changes.

  6. Oh, yeah. I’ll bet the honchos at Channel 9 are, at this very minute, shaking in their (cowboy) boots at the prospect of the terror that awaits. The ACMA – fully armed and dangerous with a 1956 wet tram ticket – is Watching!

    How awful!

    I wonder if this “watching” brief could be extended to include all FTA commercial stations. If so, those stations could then legitimately claim that – someone is watching.

  8. The enforceable undertaken vounteered by Nine should mean there are consequences if they don’t meet the new rule. When they did this for Underbelly they disclosed the value of ad revenue from the show to ACMA, as a potential fine.

  9. @josh ACMA is so weak that they would not fine nine that much all they do is give them a slap on the wrists actually has there ever been a time that ACMA has ever fined any network i cant rember a time i would love it if the ACMA fined TT and ACA out of existance

  11. David, the last sentence of your story says it all. ACMA is nothing more than a complete waste of public money by a useless bunch of public servants in Canberra.

  12. What’s the worst they can do? A strongly worded letter? A severe slap on the wrist? Media Watch has pointed out the farce that is ACMA many times.

  16. people complain about anything. At the end of the day, if you don’t like the F word in Gordon Ramsay – turn the channel. It’s not like you watch Gordon Ramsay to feel good about yourself

  18. A very bad look for Nine, acutely embarrassing for this to be public knowledge. I guess that is what decades of arrogance and thinking they are above everyone else does to a network. And Nine wonders why the Australian public has such scorn for them.

  20. ACMA still an impotent waste of space. They won’t ever follow through on their empty threats. Nothing but a waste of taxpayers dollars.

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