Television Regulation
As of the 1st July 2005 the ABA (Australian Broadcasting Authority) and the ACA (Australian Communication Authority) have joined to form the ACMA (Australian Communication and Media Authority) ACMA's Website .
The code of practice for television governs what can be shown of television and when. It covers the quantity and type of Australian produced programming required each year that must be broadcast, the amount and type of children’s programming, when certain shows can be seen, community and commercial broadcasters, national television (ABC and SBS) and also Pay TV. There are also guidelines in place covering how broadcasters are to deal with complaints. These guidelines are in place to protect young viewers and ensure that the television we get at home is of a varied, suitable and quality nature.
I believe and the ACMA Code agrees that there needs to be a children’s cod eof practice because of the unique position in life of children. They are very impressionable and can often not be able to distinguish between entertainment, reality and their own behaviour as such there needs to be a much different set of practices for children’s television in both program and non-program broadcasting. There is a governing body to manage the creation and up keep of the Code of Practice in this case it is the ACMA. It is also important because it provides the voice of the consumer for the Code. The ACMA also provides a way for breaches of the code to be addressed with out the extensive time and costs associated with a legal proceeding. The ACMA also gives the Code stability and accountability.
My research on the old ABA website showed me that all of the commercial television broadcasters were able to make the quotas for broadcasting Australian and children’s shows. However there were some breaches of the Code of Practice in terms of program and non-program content( Content Quotas Met ).
An example of such a breach was when an ad for Desperate Housewives was shown during the Australian Open coverage ( Desperite House Wives Promo Breach ). The ad contained adult themes including suicide which was considered of a mature nature. During sporting telecasts the advertisements need to be rated no more than PG as it could be reasonably expected that a child could be watching. The station was told to tell its staff to be more vigilant and explain to them the code of practice. I also noted that there were quite a few mentions of Today Tonight and A Current Affair in the list of code breaches. Of special interest was one complaint saying that the information on the show was incorrect and that a person’s identity was made known. It was found the information was correct by it wasn’t in the public interest to reveal the person’s name( 60 Minutes Privacy Breach ).
If a viewer wishes to make a complaint then they have to directly contact the offending station. If after 60 days that station hasn’t responded or the response isn’t satisfactory then a complaint form needs to be filled in and posted to the ACMA. Even then the ACMA only covers complaint in some areas such as captioning. There are several other agencies that deal with complaints that the ACMA doesn’t deal with. These can be found on this link ( Complaints COVERED by ACMA , Complaints NOT Covered by ACMA ).
One thing that concerns me personally about this system of regulation is the fact that a breach in the code is only investigated once a complaint has been made by the public to the ACMA. If the station deals with the complaint internally no one hears of it. Also there are many different agencies that have to deal with complaints about television depending on its nature. This seems like a ridiculous system. It would be much more effective as a consumer and viewer if all the complaints had to be reported to a specific agency, even the ones that are dealt with by the stations internally.
As the series producer for Mish Mash I found it very interesting to read the standards for children’s television. The limits are stricter than I thought they were. I also found it interesting that the Code of Practice makes note of the quality expected of the programs in both technical production and quality of concept. It also notes in the Code that the primary role of children’s television is to entertain. As an aside note it was interesting to see that stations must broadcast 360 spots for advising viewer on how to make a complaint.
The code of practice for television governs what can be shown of television and when. It covers the quantity and type of Australian produced programming required each year that must be broadcast, the amount and type of children’s programming, when certain shows can be seen, community and commercial broadcasters, national television (ABC and SBS) and also Pay TV. There are also guidelines in place covering how broadcasters are to deal with complaints. These guidelines are in place to protect young viewers and ensure that the television we get at home is of a varied, suitable and quality nature.
I believe and the ACMA Code agrees that there needs to be a children’s cod eof practice because of the unique position in life of children. They are very impressionable and can often not be able to distinguish between entertainment, reality and their own behaviour as such there needs to be a much different set of practices for children’s television in both program and non-program broadcasting. There is a governing body to manage the creation and up keep of the Code of Practice in this case it is the ACMA. It is also important because it provides the voice of the consumer for the Code. The ACMA also provides a way for breaches of the code to be addressed with out the extensive time and costs associated with a legal proceeding. The ACMA also gives the Code stability and accountability.
My research on the old ABA website showed me that all of the commercial television broadcasters were able to make the quotas for broadcasting Australian and children’s shows. However there were some breaches of the Code of Practice in terms of program and non-program content( Content Quotas Met ).
An example of such a breach was when an ad for Desperate Housewives was shown during the Australian Open coverage ( Desperite House Wives Promo Breach ). The ad contained adult themes including suicide which was considered of a mature nature. During sporting telecasts the advertisements need to be rated no more than PG as it could be reasonably expected that a child could be watching. The station was told to tell its staff to be more vigilant and explain to them the code of practice. I also noted that there were quite a few mentions of Today Tonight and A Current Affair in the list of code breaches. Of special interest was one complaint saying that the information on the show was incorrect and that a person’s identity was made known. It was found the information was correct by it wasn’t in the public interest to reveal the person’s name( 60 Minutes Privacy Breach ).
If a viewer wishes to make a complaint then they have to directly contact the offending station. If after 60 days that station hasn’t responded or the response isn’t satisfactory then a complaint form needs to be filled in and posted to the ACMA. Even then the ACMA only covers complaint in some areas such as captioning. There are several other agencies that deal with complaints that the ACMA doesn’t deal with. These can be found on this link ( Complaints COVERED by ACMA , Complaints NOT Covered by ACMA ).
One thing that concerns me personally about this system of regulation is the fact that a breach in the code is only investigated once a complaint has been made by the public to the ACMA. If the station deals with the complaint internally no one hears of it. Also there are many different agencies that have to deal with complaints about television depending on its nature. This seems like a ridiculous system. It would be much more effective as a consumer and viewer if all the complaints had to be reported to a specific agency, even the ones that are dealt with by the stations internally.
As the series producer for Mish Mash I found it very interesting to read the standards for children’s television. The limits are stricter than I thought they were. I also found it interesting that the Code of Practice makes note of the quality expected of the programs in both technical production and quality of concept. It also notes in the Code that the primary role of children’s television is to entertain. As an aside note it was interesting to see that stations must broadcast 360 spots for advising viewer on how to make a complaint.
posted by steve at 9:22 PM
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