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No breach by Territory Cops

ACMA rules factual series had mild impact in its violence and did not breach its PG classification.

Two episodes of 10’s factual series Territory Cops were given the all-clear by the media watchdog, after a complaint questioned its suitability in a PG classification.

Scenes which aired in September depicted a young man fighting on the street outside a nightclub. He appeared to be intoxicated and was forcibly restrained by police officers, first on the street, then again at the police station. Another scene showed a woman swearing at police as she resists arrest before she was forcibly restrained and arrested.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority found it contained adult themes in the form of criminal behaviour, alcohol abuse plus brief depictions of drug abuse and low-level violence.

But it found they were justified in the context of an observational documentary about policing. ACMA agreed with 10’s submission that the content was no stronger than mild in impact, and therefore complied with the PG classification.

Territory Cops was originally made for Foxtel by John McAvoy of Eyeworks Australia.

2 Responses

  1. Good to see the decision upheld. At worst, I would argue that this is an issue of adult themes as opposed to violence, which would have been restrained in its depiction at PG anyway.

    I just think that the pre-programme classification warnings and post-ad acronyms should be reinstated instead of having a borderline illegibile classification box briefly appear at the beginning of a programme.

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