2GB’s Brian Wilshire’s villified Lebanese people according to a finding by the Australian Communications and Media Authority.

ACMA says the licensee of 2GB Sydney, Harbour Radio Pty Ltd, breached the Commercial Radio Code of Practice. deciding that material broadcast on 2GB’s The Open-Line Show was likely to vilify people of Lebanese background on the basis of ethnicity.

The material in breach was in Brian Wilshire’s The Open-Line Show on 15 December 2005, just four days after the riots in Cronulla.

While ACMA says the material was presented for public interest purposes, in discussing factors leading up to the unrest, the Authority was not persuaded that the comments were presented reasonably and in good faith for this purpose.

2GB has breached clause 1.3(e) of the code, which says a licensee must not broadcast a program which is likely to incite or perpetuate hatred against or vilify any person or group on the basis of a number of attributes, including ethnicity.

2GB says it took immediate action after the broadcast, with an apology aired on the day following the broadcast on the Channel 10 news and on 2GB.

It has also briefed all presenters and production staff ‘about the importance of ensuring that in discussing current affairs, criticisms of particular types of conduct is reasonable, but criticisms that are based on persons having any of the attributes listed in code 1.3(e) are not’.

ACMA has noted 2GB’s prompt and prominent public apology and its re-emphasis on compliance training in this case, and considers these actions are a reasonable response to the circumstances identified in the investigation.

ACMA says it will closely monitor the 2GB’s ongoing performance against this provision of the code.