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.
This essay will examine key aspects of the recent implementation of the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) 2011, which is the largest overhaul in Consumer Law in Australia in the past twenty five years. The ACL replaces 20 existing State and Territory laws into one national law , the legislation was enacted in two main parts as Schedule 2 of the renamed Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth) (TPA) - Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) (CCA) . Aforementioned this essay it will outline the key benefits of the implementation of the act. Furthermore it will critique the Act, whilst exploring the objectives of the legislation.
As the technologies associated with communications have evolved, so have the messages that are being transmitted. In an effort to shield citizens from offensive speech, the United States government passed the Communications Act of 1934, which created the rules that a broadcaster would have to obey to remain on the air and restricted broadcasters from “utter[ing] any obscene, indecent, or profane language by means of radio communication” (Scalia 2). This ban on obscene language was only to be in effect from the hours of 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. in an attempt try to limit children from hearing the offensive speech. Congress created the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to regulate this act and in 1975, the FCC implemented the statutory ban on indecent broadcasts when the comedian George Carlin did his “Filthy Words” piece during a daytime broadcast. In FCC v. Pacifica Foundation, the Supreme Court found the ban to be both good law and constitutional. The FCC said...
Television provides the viewers with up to the minute information. The public is entitled to this information,
Fairman also fear that the banning of any word would lead to an up rise of government language control. In New Zealand the Special Olympics had already attacked the Broadcasting Standards of Authority to forbid the use of the word retard from being able to be broadcasted to the public. This is significant because the Broadcasting Standards of Authority is known to be quite similar to the Federal Communication Commission which regulates interstate and international communication such as radio, cable and television. Overtime idea of banning any certain word has evolved and has spread to be censored in private organizations. For this reason, the idea of banning words or censoring word has already spread.
Censorship in Australia comes about in a few ways. In regards to videos, video games and feature films, the Australian Classifications Board (ACB) has control of classifications. Regarding the internet, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) maintains a blacklist of overseas websites for use with filtering software, and has the power to enforce restriction on content hosted within Australia. News and current affairs in Australia are exempt from classification however there are still problems with censorship by newsgroups and self censorship by reporters.
Taras examines the commitments and values of CBC with the Canadian government and the citizens. He looked at a particular case of when CBC clashed with the government, and how CBC struggled to keep their TV programs running (Taras, pp.4-5). Next he talked about how the media industry is being taken controlled by powerful corporation and claims that PSB have the responsibility to protect the minorities (Taras, p.6). Subsequently, Taras discussed the ups and downs CBC had gone through until this day. Lastly, Taras explores the complex and intimate relationship between public broadcasters and the government; how they take advantage of each other to accomplish their goals. Ultimately, Taras believes that PSB will continue to have an impact in society despite living in a generation of digital media.
The United States Federal Communications Commission, also known as the FCC, introduced the Fairness Doctrine to make broadcasters report controversial issues of public importance in a manner that was equally balanced, honest, and fair. Broadcasting companies were required to provide a certain amount of airtime reporting accurate and fair information both for and against public issues. Broadcasters were not required to provide equal time for opposing views, but were required to present opposing viewpoints. Broadcasters were received broader boundaries as how to how they were to provide those opposing views. Because under the constitutional right of free speech, the government wanted to insure that broadcasting companies provided both accurate and fair information from both sides of the viewpoint.
Over the centuries, the media has played a significant role in the shaping of societies across the globe. This is especially true of developed nations where media access is readily available to the average citizen. The media has contributed to the creation of ideologies and ideals within a society. The media has such an effect on social life, that a simple as a news story has the power to shake a nation. Because of this, governments around the world have made it their duty to be active in the regulation and control of media access in their countries. The media however, has quickly become dominated by major mega companies who own numerous television, radio and movie companies both nationally and internationally. The aim of these companies is to generate revenue and in order to do this they create and air shows that cater to popular demand. In doing so, they sometimes compromise on the quality of their content. This is where public broadcasters come into perspective.
The pressure from parents’ rights groups such as the ACT, was finally exposed in the Action for Children's Television v. FCC (ACT I) in 1988 where the concern was limited to the indecent exposure and obscenity on television at hours when children were likely to be watching. The Court looked at the regulations imposed on commercial broadcasting networks in 1987 as a response to parental outrage and the government’s responsibility to care for children’s well-being and protect them from obscenity and indecency on television.
For centuries, governments have tried to regulate information thought to be inappropriate or offensive. Today’s technology has given the government an excuse to interfere with free speech. By claiming that radio frequencies are a limited resource, the government tells broadcasters what to say and what not to say. The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) carefully monitors news, public, and local programming for what they consider obscenity (Hyland).
One of the fundamental roles of the media in a liberal democracy is to critically scrutinise governmental affairs: that is to act as a watchdog of government to ensure that the government can be held accountable by the public. However, the systematic deregulation of media systems worldwide is diminishing the ability of citizens to meaningfully participate in policymaking process governing the media (McChesney, 2003, p. 126). The relaxation of ownership rules and control, has resulted in a move away from diversity of production to a situation where media ownership is becoming increasing concentrated by just a few predominantly western global conglomerates (M...
Nightingale, V & Dwyer, T 2006 ‘The audience politics of ‘enhanced’ television formats’, International Journal of Media and Cultural Politics, vol. 2, no.1, pp. 25-42
Self or peer regulation is what was present in South Africa from the 1994 elections to 2007 when the ANC proposed a Media Appeals Tribunal. Self-regulation is good in that the government is not involved in the regulation and apprehension of ethical transgressions. But, at the same time, a big problem arises in that the media are regulating themselves which is not particularly good because they are not going to be harsh on themselves.
Each TV channel has an audience, their own individual target audience. Ten News is seemingly aimed at a younger audience, around the ages of 18 - 39, mainly young adults, whereas on the government funded ABC news is targeted at a much older audience 40 - 50 years old. Set presentation is also dictated by the target audience, insofar as that the studio and set are designed to be as appealing to a particular audience. For example, ABC uses a contemporary backdrop, showing the world in a placid blue and the rest of the set being in a pale blue and silver colour combination. The idea of this backdrop is that it shows that not only is ABC reporting local news but that ABC is also in tune with the rest of the world. On the other hand, Ten’s Evening news features a clear image of known locations in Adelaide including the River Torrens. Even how the presenters are dressed is dictated by the target audience and the viewing age. On the government funded SBS (Special Broadcasting Station), the anchors dress in very conservative clothes, such as a suit, and the reporters are between the ages o...
At just a quarter of a century in governing regulations, listening to complains and making recommendations, while maintaining the standards of the laws of Jamaica as it is concerned with the media. There is one inevitable aspect the Broadcasting Commission has to continuously keep abreast with, and that is change.