Southern Cross Austereo (SCA)and The Australian Communication and Media Authority (ACMA) have a agreed to a set of penalties to the Royal Prank broadcast broadcast in 2012. Announced today, SCA will receive an extra set of licence conditions for its 2DayFM station, rather than having its licence suspended.
Under the agreement, 2DayFM will broadcast a three-hour special program to promote media ethics and raise public awareness of the signs of bullying and depression. During the program, all advertising will be suspended, or proceeds from ads will be donated to charity.
In addition, 2DayFM has made an enforceable undertaking requiring personnel to undergo a targeted training program on ethical and legal obligations. It has also agreed to additional licence conditions which will apply for three years, specifying it will not air conversations from someone recorded that could lead to their identity being revealed, unless that person has consented.
The conditions follow ACMA's release of a report in April into the scandal finding that the station had breached its licence conditions by recording and broadcasting private conversations. The report was part of an ongoing legal stoush between ACMA and SCA after the station called the London hospital where the Duchess of Cambridge was being treated for morning sickness in 2012.
In its report, ACMA found that 2DayFM breached clause 6.1 of the Commercial Radio Australia Codes of Practice and Guidelines 2011 which “prohibits the broadcast of statements by identifiable persons without their consent”, and 9.1 which “prohibits participants in live-hosted entertainment programs from being treated in a highly demeaning or highly exploitative manner.”
It also found that it breached a licence condition in the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 which prohibits the use of a broadcasting service in the commission of an offence.
ACMA chairman Chris Chapman said the conditions are a “much more constructive way” of ensuring compliance by the station.
“The combined approach of the special broadcast and targeted training program, together with the imposition of a new licence condition, presents a positive alternative to what would have otherwise been a brief suspension of 2DayFM’s licence,” Chapman said.
‘The community has a right to expect that broadcasters will not record and broadcast private conversations where consent has not been given.”
“It heralds a positive approach that the new board and management of 2DayFM have acknowledged and apologised for 2DayFM’s actions, accepted the ACMA’s breach findings, committed to ethical behaviour and regulatory compliance going forward and, through this special program, will seek to proactively address important societal issues including media ethics.”
In March, the High Court of Australia confirmed the authority of ACMA finding that it has the power to decide if a broadcaster has committed a criminal offence and therefore breach its licence conditions.
In its ruling the High Court said: “It is the authority's function to monitor and regulate broadcasting services throughout Australia. There is no incongruity in empowering the authority to take administrative enforcement action against a licensee who uses the broadcasting service in the commission of an offence, whether the offence is against commonwealth, state or territory law.”
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