Regulator ACMA has ruled that Kyle and Jackie O breached commercial radio’s decency codes in a verdict handed down at a media conference in Sydney. The ACMA will impose a ‘decency’ licence condition on the station. Austereo CEO Rhys Holleran has told radioinfo the company will appeal if it considers the verdict is too harsh.
Kyle Sandilands’ comments about a female journalist were deeply derogatory and offensive, according to the ACMA, and amounted to a breach of the Commercial Radio Codes of Practice 2011.
The ACMA has begun formal steps to impose a second licence condition on broadcaster 2DAY FM Sydney which would prohibit the radio station from broadcasting indecent content and content that demeans women or girls. Click here for the terms of the proposed licence condition.
‘The Authority found the comments by Mr Sandilands deeply derogatory and offensive and, in all the circumstances, a licence condition is the appropriate response,’ said ACMA Chairman Chris Chapman.
In 2010, the ACMA found the same program had breached the equivalent indecency provision of the earlier version of the codes. Following that finding, the ACMA imposed a licence condition to provide increased protection for children participating in live hosted entertainment programs broadcast by 2DAY-FM.
If 2DAY-FM does not comply with its additional licence condition, the ACMA may take further action including:
- Give a remedial direction
- Impose a further additional condition
- Accept an enforceable undertaking or
- Suspend or cancel the licence
The ACMA has no powers, at this stage of the enforcement regime, to ‘fine’ 2DAY-FM or take any action directly against any talent employed by the licensee.
Southern Cross Austereo says, if the licence condition is “too onerous,” it will pursue “all available remedies to have the licence condition revoked.”
2Day FM regrets the comments made by Mr Sandilands and has apologised both publicly and privately to the journalist. Mr Sandilands has also apologised and issued an open letter to the media.
Southern Cross Austereo CEO Rhys Holleran says: “2Day FM’s core audience is women, predominantly young women. 2Day FM has built its significant audience over the past decade by broadcasting programs which appeal to women and their interests in a relevant and entertaining way.”
“Our difficulty with the proposed licence condition is that terms such as ‘decency’, ‘demeaning’ and ‘undue emphasis on gender’ are broad and ambiguous and mean different things to different people. The ACMA has issued no guidance on the licence condition and in light of that, we consider the condition to be unworkable.”
“The ACMA also appears to have ignored the steps which 2Day FM put in place, well before the investigation commenced. It is also relevant that, in a 10 year period in which 2Day FM has broadcast approximately 87,000 hours of programming, it has breached the Code only four times.”
“We are concerned that the ACMA’s response is disproportionate to the breach of the Code. 2Day FM considers that the ACMA has given undue weight to complaints received from people who were not listeners of the program.”
400 complaints were received in response to Sandilands’ comments. Approximately 80% of these were not from listeners of the program, and each complaint was considered and fully-responded. The ACMA expressed its satisfaction with the considerable work undertaken by Southern Cross Austereo and 2Day FM.