Channel Nine has been found guilty of violating privacy regulations by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).
The breach in a story that featured on A Current Affair, and involved mobile phone footage of an argument between neighbours.
The episode aired on 21 March 2022, and highlighted an online video that had gone viral, portraying a dispute between two men in regional New South Wales. ACMA was alerted to this potential breach of privacy through a complaint lodged by a representative of one of the men involved in the dispute.
ACMA’s investigation discovered that the story indeed crossed the line of acceptable privacy boundaries. The individual’s name, part of his residential address, and clear video footage of his face were all featured without his consent.
Furthermore, the ACA story disclosed several personal aspects of the dispute, such as previous complaints about floodlight placement and sandbags, an intimidating approach by the neighbour, a scuffle that ended in an injury, an expressed desire to apologise, and the fact that police were involved but no formal complaint was made. Notably, the ACA presenter also revealed personal information about the neighbour, including his full and given names, his age, and the town he resided in.
According to the Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice, broadcasters are not allowed to share personal information without consent unless doing so is in the public interest.
ACMA Chair, Nerida O’Loughlin, stressed the importance of privacy respect in news and current affairs reporting. She emphasised, “Broadcasters may only disclose personal information without consent if it is relevant and proportional to the public interest.”
She further highlighted that in this case, the public interest did not justify Nine’s disclosure of the individual’s name and address. Such disclosure was not required for the audience’s comprehension of the issue at hand.
O’Loughlin also pointed out that,
“Even if material is already available in the public sphere, a licensee has an obligation to consider how broadcasting the material may further impact people’s privacy.”
Following the ACMA’s findings, Nine has agreed to conduct training sessions for its staff, focusing on the privacy requirements as defined in the code.
