A USTRALIAN M EDIA R EGULATION Media Influence

W HY WE REGULATE There are a number of reasons why we believe it is necessary to regulate the media. One of the reasons that we regulate the media is the possibility of copycat behaviour. Eg: Both the FreeTV Australia and the Advertising Standards Bureau have guidelines for the advertising of food and beverages to children which state that they should not promote an ‘inactive lifestyle’ or ‘unhealthy eating or drink habits’. Radio Australia have guidelines relating to the portrayal of suicide. Commercial television and commercial radio codes of practice have guidelines relating to the portrayal of women, indigenous people and cultural diversity because it is believed the media should not promote prejudice and intolerance. To protect children from potentially harmful or damaging media images. To protect adults from seeing unsolicited material that is likely to offend.

2 T YPES OF R EGULATION There are two types of regulation we are going to be looking at - government regulation and self regulation. Government regulation includes the National Classification Scheme and the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) Self regulation includes the Advertising Standards Bureau (ASB) and social media regulation

G OVERNMENT REGULATION

N ATIONAL CLASSIFICATION SCHEME The classification of films, video games and publications in Australia is the responsibility of the Attorney General's Department. A Classification Board and Classification Review Board make decisions about the classification of films, video games and publications which are available for sale and hire in Australia. In Australia, there are a number of classification categories, including: G, PG, M15+, MA15+, R and X. If a film, computer game or publication is deemed inappropriate by the Classification Board, it is refused classification and prohibited from sale in Australia.

U NDER THE C OMMONWEALTH C LASSIFICATIONS A CT, THE FOLLOWING MATTERS ARE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT WHEN CLASSIFYING FILMS, VIDEO GAMES AND PUBLICATIONS : the standards of morality, decency and propriety generally accepted by reasonable adults; the literary, artistic or educational merit (if any) of the publication, film or computer game; the general character of the publication, film or computer game, including whether it is of a medical, legal or scientific character; the persons or class of persons to or amongst whom it is published or is intended or likely to be published (eg. Children).

C LASSIFICATION DECISIONS ARE MADE ACCORDING TO THE FOLLOWING PRINCIPLES : adults should be able to read, hear and see what they want; minors should be protected from material likely to harm or disturb them; everyone should be protected from exposure to unsolicited material that they find offensive; the need to take account of community concerns about: depictions that condone or incite violence, particularly sexual violence; and the portrayal of persons in a demeaning manner.

L INKING THE NATIONAL CLASSIFICATION SCHEME & MEDIA VIOLENCE The main controversy with this scheme had been that until recently there had been no R18+ category for video games in Australia. Just this year, a bill was finally passed in the national parliament to bring in a national R18+ classification for video games The lack of an R18+ classification caused controversy on a number of occasions in the past when video games - such as Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Manhunt and Left 4 Dead 2 - were refused classification because they were deemed unsuitable for the MA15+ category. In some cases, edited versions of these games were released for Australian audiences.

TASKS: Read “40 reasons why we need an R rating” and answer the questions at the bottom of the article. Read “R18+ video game rating passes Senate” game-rating-passes-senate/ and answer these questions: 1. In what month did the legislation pass? 2. What does it now mean for video games? 3. What was the previous highest classification for video games? What implications did this have? 4. What will the R18+category now inform people of?

T HE A USTRALIAN C OMMUNICATIONS AND M EDIA A UTHORITY (AC M A) The ACMA is a government body responsible for regulating broadcasting and online content in Australia. Its responsibilities include: promoting self-regulation and competition in the communications industry, while protecting consumers and other users fostering an environment in which electronic media respect community standards and respond to audience and user needs managing access to the radiofrequency spectrum representing Australia 's communications interests internationally. The ACMA has developed codes of practice for television and radio in conjunction with the industry FreeTV Australia and Commercial Radio Australia. These codes govern the content of television and radio in Australia.

ACMA REGULATES THE OWNERSHIP OF COMMERCIAL MEDIA ORGANISATIONS IN A USTRALIA Under current media ownership laws in Australia: cross media ownership is allowed providing that there are no fewer than five independent media groups in metropolitan markets and four in regional markets; foreign investment in the Australia media is permitted but the mass media is considered a 'sensitive sector' and any foreign investment, regardless of its size must be approved by the Treasurer; a person may only control one commercial television licence or two commercial radio licenses in a license area; a person may not control a commercial television license reaching an audience of more than 75% of the Australian population.

S ELF REGULATION

A DVERTISING S TANDARDS B UREAU (ASB) The ASB oversees a national system of advertising self-regulation. The ASB is a free service to handle consumer complaints about advertising. Consumers can lodge a complaint with the ASB, the advertiser's then have the chance to respond to the allegations and the ASB makes a determination on the matter. These issues might include "the use of language, the discriminatory portrayal of people, concern for children, portrayals of violence, sex, sexuality and nudity, health and safety, and marketing of food and beverages to children." The ASB has a number of codes which govern the content of advertisements. The Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA) Code of Practice aims to ensure that "advertisements are legal, decent, honest and truthful and that they have been prepared with a sense of obligation to the consumer and society and fair sense of responsibility to competitors."

S ELF REGULATION Many media organisations, such as newspapers and television news programs, have developed codes of conduct for their staff to follow. These are developed to set out the values and expectations of the organisation and how their employees should represent those values. An example of one is the Fairfax one (Fairfax own papers such as The Age) airfaxcode.pdf airfaxcode.pdf Another example is the Commercial Television Code of Practice section 4 regarding news & current affairs programs) ommercial.pdf ommercial.pdf

S ELF REGULATION CASE STUDY Watch this story from ABC’s Media Watch regarding the Molly Lord case htm As well as the clip, there is also a written transcript you can read back over to help you recollect some points. Complete the tasks on the following slide.

R EGULATION CASE STUDY TASKS 1. Summarise what happened to Molly Lord. 2. Summarise what the media did that Molly Lord’s family objected to. 3. Who were the 3 media organisations at the centre of the complaint? 4. With Fairfax’s Code of Conduct in mind, do you think the staff from the Illawarra Mercury acted in accordance with it? Explain your answer, referencing the code. 5. With Section 4 of the Commercial Television Code of Practice in mind, do you think the staff from WIN News acted in accordance with it? Explain your answer, referencing the code.

I N S UMMARY

W HY ALL THIS REGULATION ? It comes down to protecting the audience. Who do you think needs the most protecting? Why might some audiences need more protecting than others? It is understood that some audiences are more vulnerable than others, as studied in Theories of Audience. Additionally, some Media Influence theories would suggest that unless content is regulated, exposure to certain media products would influence people to act in certain ways eg.: aggressive, violent behaviour after viewing a violent film or playing a violent video game. Therefore by limiting or restricting access to these kinds of media products, regulation ensures that the influence in this case would be less.