Australian Broadcasting Authority - Law

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Australian Broadcasting Authority

Have you ever wondered who regulates what we see on tv and the internet, and what we hear on the radio? Ever thought about if the content of what we watch on tv follows a set of compulsory standards? Well, you will no longer have to ponder over these questions because today we will be telling you all about the organization which is responsible for these things: the Australian Broadcasting Authority, commonly termed the ABA.

Firstly, we will be outlining the mission statement of the organization, so that you may understand the general idea of why this organization exists.

We will then be telling you the activities that the Australian Broadcasting Authority does. Following this we will be outlining the organizations relevance to the marketing sector, as well as telling you about their code of ethics and rules of conduct.

Mission Statement

The Australian Broadcasting Authority exists to promote a quality media environment, and to serve as a facilitator through which the wants and needs of the Australian public may be met, in relation to what is broadcast through the media vehicles in Australia.

Activities:

The Australian Broadcasting Authority is primarily in existence to protect the Australian public from any offensive or harmful material that may be broadcast in Australia, and so is responsible for a number of activities which serve to regulate what is broadcast.

The organization regulates what is broadcast in the Australian media through radio, television and internet content. This involves developing program standards and assisting broadcasting service providers to create these standards. The Australian Broadcast Authority also monitors compliance with license conditions, as well as investigating complaints about broadcasting and internet services, which may be lodged on the Australian Broadcasting Authority website. It is also the duty of the organization to monitor trends and advances in broadcasting technology and the ABA is required to inform the Minister for Communications, the Information Technology and the Arts about advances and trends in broadcasting technology.

The Australian Broadcasting Authority also plans the availability of segments of the broadcasting services band (e.g. FM, AM radio), as well as having the power to allocate, renew, suspend and cancel licenses and collect any fees payable for those licenses.

Essentially, the organization aims to ensure that all news is reported fairly and that community standards are respected. Their moral code is to make certain that all material that is broadcasted by various forms of media, does not contain anything that it shouldn’t.

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