Staff at Nine’s A Current Affair program will receive privacy training after breach

Channel 9’s prime time program A Current Affair breached privacy rules in an on-air report about a neighbourhood dispute.

A Nine spokesman said the network was concerned about the way the ACMA had interpreted the Code.

Staff at Nine’s A Current Affair will receive privacy training after the program aired a story that disclosed a participant’s name, address and footage without his consent.

The media regulator, the Australian Communications and Media Authority, conducted an investigation into the Channel 9 broadcast which aired on March 21 last year and showed an online video of a late-night dispute between a man and his neighbour.

The TV segment – which remains online – was introduced by the then ACA host Tracy Grimshaw, with the story described by reporter Hannah Sinclair as “a petty neighbourhood dispute in a small community in regional NSW” that went “global”.

A representative of the neighbour made a complaint to ACMA about the broadcast and claimed it breached the neighbour’s privacy.

ACMA chair Nerida O’Loughlin said broadcasters must ensure they respect a person’s right to privacy when reporting on news and current affairs.

“Broadcasters may only disclose personal information without consent if it is relevant and proportional to the public interest,” she said in a statement.

“In this case our investigation found it wasn’t in the public interest for Nine to disclose the individual’s name and address because it wasn’t necessary to enable the audience to understand the overall issue.

Tracy Grimshaw pictured at the A Current Affair desk.

“Even if material is already available in the public sphere, as some of this footage was, a licensee has an obligation to consider how broadcasting the material may further impact people’s privacy.”

The video by a 19-year-old man was posted on YouTube and went viral online.

It was filmed in the small regional NSW community of Ellalong and ACA’s report included an interview with the man and his neighbour that appeared to have been filmed on a mobile phone.

The vision included the neighbour entering the 19-year-old’s backyard by climbing over a fence and complaining about a floodlight.

A dispute took place between the pair and the neighbour was seen in the vision falling over and laying motionless – footage taken later showed a close up of the neighbour with a cut on his nose and blood on his face and hand.

A Current Affair staff including senior production employees and the journalist involved in the story will be trained about the privacy requirements of the commercial television industry’s code of practice.

A Nine spokesman said the network was “concerned about the way the ACMA has elected to interpret the privacy provisions of the Code in this instance”.

“This case involved a video which was public and had been seen by around 400,000 people prior to Nine reporting upon it,” he said.

“The neighbour was interviewed by Nine about his experience, and the fact his video went viral.

“The ACMA have determined that despite this, the man’s identity and actions should be protected by privacy.

“Nevertheless, we have agreed to train relevant staff about the approach taken by the ACMA.”