2DayFM survives Royal Prank call

TROUBLED radio station 2DayFM will keep its broadcasting licence over the Royal Prank scandal, but has been slapped with new restrictions.

2DAYFM will not lose its broadcasting licence as a result of the Royal Prank phone call scandal after the communications watchdog today opted to instead impose strict new licence conditions on the troubled radio station.

In March, 2DayFM owner Southern Cross Austereo lost its legal battle against the Australian Communications and Media Authority, paving the way for ACMA to publish its investigation and impose enforcement outcomes.

SCA says it accepts ACMA’s finding that 2DayFM breached certain provisions of the commercial Radio Australia Codes of Practice and Guidelines 2011 and the licence conditions under which it operates.

SCA chairman Peter Bush said while the company had previously contested ACMA’s power to find the station had breached the Code and its licence conditions, he was appreciative of “forthright but constructive discussions” with ACMA chairman Chris Chapman to resolve the issue.

“It goes without question that 2DayFM and its presenters intended no harm to anyone as a result of the prank call,” Mr Bush said in a statement. “We accept the ACMA’s finding that 2DayFM was in breach when it failed to obtain consent from the nurses involved before broadcasting the recording of the prank call.

“While both NSW State and Commonwealth Police decided the matter should not be prosecuted and the station did not identify the people on the call by name, we accept the ACMA’s view that consent of parties must be obtained before such calls are broadcast.

“2DayFM deeply regrets and apologises for its breaches and has agreed with the ACMA several actions that will be taken in response to the matter.”

The additional licence condition will apply for three years and specifies that the station will not broadcast the words of an identifiable person unless that person has been informed in advance that the words may be broadcast. If recorded without the person’s knowledge, they must consent to the broadcast.

It marks the third time the Australian Communications and Media Authority has slapped 2DayFM with additional licence conditions over controversial behaviour, with the two previous instances both relating to former presenter Kyle Sandilands.

In the December 2012 call, hosts Michael Christian and Mel Greig phoned the London hospital where the Duchess of Cambridge was being treated for morning sickness, impersonating the Queen and Prince Charles.

One of the nurses who answered the call, Jacintha Saldanha, later committed suicide.

In its investigation, ACMA found 2DayFM breached its licence conditions by broadcasting the statements of identifiable people without their knowledge or consent, and by treating participants in live-hosted entertainment programs from being “treated in a highly demeaning or highly exploitative manner”.

As part of the agreement, 2DayFM will broadcast a three-hour special program “produced to promote media ethics and raise public awareness of the signs and risks of bullying, depression and anxiety”, with all advertising either suspended or proceeds donated to charity.

Recognising that 2DayFM is the only station to have been imposed with additional licence conditions, ACMA has also accepted an enforceable undertaking that all 2DayFM presenters, production and management will be required to attend an ethics training course.

“The combined approach of the special broadcast and targeted training program, together with the imposition of a new licence condition, presents a positive alternative to what would have otherwise been a brief suspension of 2DayFM’s licence,” ACMA Chairman Chris Chapman said in a statement.

“This is a much more constructive way of ensuing future compliance by 2DayFM with important community safeguards.”

Mr Chapman said the community had a “right to expect that broadcasters will not record and broadcast private conversations where consent has not been given”.

“It heralds a positive approach that the new board and management of 2DayFM have acknowledged and apologised for 2DayFM’s actions, accepted the ACMA’s breach findings, committed to ethical behaviour and regulatory compliance going forward and, through this special program, will seek to proactively address important societal issues including media ethics,” he said.

“These really are matters of genuine, current public concern and debate, and this contribution to the ongoing conversation is, in the ACMA’s view, better than the silence that would have been the result if the ACMA had suspended the licence for a brief time.”