ACMA Finds Hadley to be in Breach of Radio Codes
Friday 11 October 2013 @ 9.24 a.m. | IP & Media
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) have judged that talkback radio host Roy Hadley had breached the commercial radio codes when broadcasting false claims about the former treasurer Wayne Swan.
In a broadcast occurring mid last year, Hadley claimed that Mr Swan had cut the school hospitality program so that children visiting Canberra’s Parliament House would no longer be offered fruit snacks and bottles of water. The assertion was based on a story Hadley had seen in the Daily Telegraph. However, prior to this claim, Mr Swan had issued a statement to all media outlets saying that the report in the Daily Telegraph was completely wrong.
In response to this, Hadley criticised Mr Swan’s statement, saying that “it appears Mr Swan has not read what he needs to in relation to all of this.” He went on to describe the former treasurer as one of the most “dishonest politicians ever to govern this country.”
ACMA subsequently found, in relation to this, that Hadley had failed to make reasonable efforts to broadcast factual material. He was also found to have failed to correct the record and failed to acknowledge publicly that his previous statements were factually wrong.
Mr Swan commented:
“even when my office contacted Mr Hadley's show directly, and even after the Daily Telegraph admitted it got the story wrong and corrected it, Mr Hadley refused to tell his listeners the actual truth…Just like politicians, commentators and journalists have a responsibility to correct the record if they get it wrong….Mr Hadley failed his listeners by refusing to so."
TimeBase is an independent, privately owned Australian legal publisher specialising in the online delivery of accurate, comprehensive and innovative legislation research tools including LawOne and unique Point-in-Time Products.
