A hiatus in the rollout of new commercial radio licences and the end of lengthy inquiries into alleged standards’ breaches by 2UE and 2GB are among the ABA’s significant events for 2003-’04, according to its annual report.
The number of investigations, where the ABA made a breach finding, is down by 22% on the previous year. The Authority found breaches in 27 of 106 investigations completed, compared to 50 out of 106 in 2002-’03. Nvarchar(15)een of the investigations found breaches relating to codes of practice and seven to licence conditions.
Four inquiries involving commercial radio stations resulted in codes’ breaches, compared with two in the previous reporting period. Three of these investigations resulted in breaches over complaints’ handling.
Community radio accounted for three of the 19 investigations resulting in codes’ breaches, four less than the year before. Each of these three revolved around requirements to have written policy and procedures in place for conflict resolution.
There were no breaches for ABC radio in 2003-’04.
The average time taken by the ABA to complete an investigation was about 12 weeks, four more than in 2002-’03.
The annual report is available on the ABA website or from the Authority.