A Current Affair cleared after privacy complaint

A Current Affair has been cleared of a complaint about invasion of privacy when a March 2022 story of an employment dispute included a reporter interviewing an employer on the veranda of their home.

The Employer made a complaint that ACA “trespassed into my private back garden in Hobart… and upstairs onto my private back veranda at 8am in the morning to catch me off guard and push a camera into my face. [ACA Reporter] was aware that as a private citizen I had no preparation or media training and would be unable to offer any clarity or defence.”

They continued, “Please advise where it was in the public interest to enter my private back yard and enter my private back veranda without my permission to catch me as a private citizen off guard at 8am in the morning? You then edited the footage to the most disparaging effect.”

However the Australian Communications and Media Authority guidelines state that consent can be implied, such as when a person is a willing participant in an interview.

ACMA accepted that in this case by answering some questions from the ACA Reporter and by not declining to speak to them, the Employer was a ‘willing participant’ in the interview.