Investigation Report No. BI-324

Investigation report no. BI-324

Summary
Broadcaster / Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Station / ABC
Type of service / National broadcasting—television
Name of program / The Mix
Date of broadcast / 6 June 2017
Relevant code / ABC Code of Practice 2011 (revised in 2016)
Date Finalised / 13 July 2017
Decision / No breach of Standard 7.1 [harm and offence]
No breach of Standard 7.2 [warnings or advice]

Background

In June 2017, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (the ACMA) commenced an investigation under section151 of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (the BSA) intoa segmentofThe Mix (the program).

The program was broadcast on ABC by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) (the broadcaster) on6 June 2017.

The ACMA received a complaint allegingthat the ‘Pub Chat’ segment on the program caused harm and offence by the broadcast of images depicting sexual violence.

The ACMA hasinvestigatedthe ABC’s compliance with Standards 7.1 and 7.2 of the ABC Code of Practice 2011 (revised in 2016)(the Code).

The program

The Mix is a news program, described as follows:

ABC News 24's new weekly arts, entertainment and culture program. Hosted by popular radio and television host James Valentine, The Mix gives you the latest on art, television, movies, books, games, apps, festivals, gigs, events, celebrities, theatre and all things showbiz. Get the full picture with The Mix.[1]

The Mix is broadcast first on ABC News and repeated on ABC.

The relevant program segment, ‘Pub Chat’, contained a discussion between host Mr James Valentine and three guests about a recently released filmHounds of Love. The discussionwas two minutes in durationand was accompanied by scenes from the film. It commenced at approximately 20 minutes and 28 seconds into the program.

A transcriptof the Hounds of Love film review is at Attachment A. A detailed description of each of the scenes broadcast from the film is also at Attachment A.

Assessmentand submissions

When assessing content, the ACMA considers the meaning conveyed by the material, including the natural, ordinary meaning of the language, context, tenor, tone,images and any inferences that may be drawn. This is assessed according to the understanding of an ‘ordinary reasonable’ viewer.

Australian courts have considered an ‘ordinary reasonable’viewer to be:

A person of fair average intelligence, who is neither perverse, nor morbid or suspicious of mind, nor avid for scandal. That person does not live in an ivory tower, but can and does read between the lines in the light of that person’s general knowledge and experience of worldly affairs.[2]

Once the ACMA has ascertained the meaning of the material that was broadcast, it then assesses compliance with the Code.

This investigation has taken into account the complaint (extracts of which are at Attachment B) and submissions from the broadcaster (extracts of which are at Attachment C). Other sources are identified in this report where relevant.

Issue: Harm and offence

Relevant Code provisions

Standards:

7.1 Content that is likely to cause harm or offence must be justified by the editorial context.

7.2 Where content is likely to cause harm or offence, having regard to the context, make reasonable efforts to provide information about the nature of the content through the use of classification labels or other warnings or advice.

The ACMA also takes account of the relevant Principles set out in the Code:

The ABC broadcasts comprehensive and innovative content that aims to inform, entertain and educate diverse audiences. This involves a willingness to take risks, invent and experiment with new ideas. It can result in challenging content which may offend some of the audience some of the time. But it also contributes to diversity of content in the media and to fulfilling the ABC’s function to encourage and promote the musical, dramatic and other performing arts. The ABC acknowledges that a public broadcaster should never gratuitously harm or offend and accordingly any content which is likely to harm or offend must have a clear editorial purpose.

The ABC potentially reaches the whole community, so it must take into account community standards. However, the community recognises that what is and is not acceptable in ABC content largely depends upon the particular context, including the nature of the content, its target audience, and any signposting that equips audiences to make informed choices about what they see, hear or read. Applying the harm and offence standard, therefore, requires careful judgement. What may be inappropriate and unacceptable in one context may be appropriate and acceptable in another. Coarse language, disturbing images or unconventional situations may form a legitimate part of reportage, debate, documentaries or a humorous, satirical, dramatic or other artistic work.

Finding

The ABC did not breach Standards 7.1 or 7.2 of the Code.

Reasons

The complainant submitted:

I am very disappointed that the ABC cannot see that showing images of a women handcuffed to a bed, with black eyes and waiting to be repeatedly raped and then killed is 'compliant'. I find this very upsetting that someone/organisation would defend showing such images on ABC and especially in prime time TV. Very disappointing. These images were shown on my favourite show The Mix - it was so disappointing to have such horrible content and images during this wonderful show.

The ABC submitted:

While we acknowledge [the complainant’s] views about the merits of Hounds of Love, it is the case that the film was highly praised by some critics. The film was a legitimate subject for discussion on the program and showing the way in which it had been filmed was an essential part of the review. The excerpts shown from the film were brief and restrained and viewers had been advised that the program would contain adult themes.

The complaint concerns a film review for Hounds of Love,an Australian psychological thriller which centres on the kidnapping, sexual abuse and murder of young females in Perth, Western Australia in the 1980s. The film is a work of fiction inspired by true crimes that happened in Australia and overseas. It was classified MA15+ by the Classification Board in March 2017.[3]

The review included some very brief excerpts from the film. The most impactful scenes broadcast were:

1. Amedium close up of a distressed young woman lying down, clothed, and chained by her wrists to a bed. She appears to have been beaten and has sustained facial injuries including a black eye and bruising at both corners of her mouth, consistent with having been gagged. Her wrists also appear to have bruising caused by the metal chain she is restrained with. No blood detail or open wounds are visible.
2. Amedium close up of a woman holding a large kitchen knife to her own throat as she whispers ‘You lie’ to someone off camera.
3. Ayoung woman chained to the side of a bed who appears to have been beaten and has sustainedmild hand and facial bruising. No blood detail or open wounds are visible and despite her situation, she does not appear distressed. She shakes her head as she looks at someone off camera and whispers in a persuasivemanner ‘He just uses you’.
4. Amedium close up of a very distressed young woman sitting on the ground inside a house as a manrestrains her by holding her in a headlock from behind. She appears to be crying and screaming, though the visuals are accompanied by audio of ominous music rather than the actual audio from this scene in the film.

Compliance with Standard 7.1 [harm and offence – justified by editorial context]

To assess compliance with Standard 7.1, the ACMA asks the following questions:

1.Does the material have the intrinsic capacity to be likely to cause harm or offence?

If it has no capacity to be likely to cause harm or offence, then the matter ends there. If the answer to question 1 is ‘yes’, then the following further questions arise:

2.What factors are there moderating any harm or offence?

3.What is the editorial context?

4. Does the editorial context justify the likely harm or offence?

1. Does the material have the intrinsic capacity to be likely to cause harm or offence?

The ACMA considers that, depending on the context, themes and depictions of violence, particularlyimplied sexual violence, have some intrinsic capacity to cause offence to some viewers. As the answer to this question is ‘yes’, the ACMA then asks the following further questions.

2.What factors are there moderating any harm or offence?

In this case, any harm or offence in the segment was moderated by thelack of visual detail with respect to the depictions of violence (including implied sexual violence), the brevity of the images broadcast and the tone of the segment overall.

As part of the discussion, the segment included montages ofscenes from the film. Individual scenes were broadcast only very briefly, and the four scenes described above wereeach approximately one second in duration.

These potentially distressing images were interspersed with other, lower impact scenes from the film.In addition, the montages were intercut with footage of the host and his guests seated around a table in a pub setting, carrying out the discussion.As scenes from the film were broadcast, thediscussion continued as voice-over audio, further mitigating the impact of the visuals.Audible dialogue from the film was limited to a few snippets to provide narrative context.

While some of the scenes used in the montages depict violence and its effects, there was no clear instance in the segmentwhere sexual violencewas depicted. Sexual violence was only ambiguously implied by the visual content. It was the commentary in the segment that made it clear to viewers that one or more characters in the film were also subjected to sexual violence.

The harm and offence in the segment was further moderated by the provision of consumer advice at the beginning of the program. This alerted viewers to adult themes in the program (discussed further below).

3.What is the editorial context?

The Mix is a news and information program about arts, entertainment and culture. Each week the program’s host, arts journalists and other contributors traverse a wide range of topics concerning the arts and entertainment.

The ‘Pub Chat’ segment of the programbroadcast on 6 June 2017 covered the following topics:

commentary on the recent decision to allow only cinema released films to be in the running for awards at the Cannes Film Festival

highlights of the Sydney Film Festival

a discussion about the recently released Australian filmHounds of Love.

All three guests on the ‘Pub Chat’ segment have careers related to the film industry.The conversation took place in a pub setting and remained light hearted and conversational in tone.

4. Does the editorial context justify the likely harm or offence?

The Code Principles note that what ABC content is acceptable to the community depends on the nature of the content, its target audience and any signposting that is provided. Any content likely to harm or offend should have a clear editorial purpose.

This episode of the program provided consumer advice about adult themes prior to the commencement of the program and during the program there was signposting that referred to the confronting nature of the themes coming up. At the commencement of the ‘Pub Chat’ segmentthe host stated:

[…] we’ll have a chat about a current Australian release Hounds of Love, which puts us in the very unpleasant company of a serial killer couple in 1980s Perth.

Further signposting occurred at the beginning of the discussion about Hounds of Love when one guest, Ms Lauren Carroll Harris, described the film as ‘torture porn’.

The discussion about Hounds of Loveincluded commentary about the following aspects of the film:

the reception of the film overseas including mention of the awards it has won at overseas film festivals

the film’s directorial merits and the director’s initial intention for the film

the lead actor’s artistic leap from being known for comedy to acting in this psychological thriller

speculation about the director’s future career.

The Code Principles note that what may be inappropriate and unacceptable in one context may be appropriate and acceptable in another. For example, disturbing images or unconventional situations may form a legitimate part of, among other things, humorous, satirical, dramatic or other artistic work.

Hounds of Love has been widely acclaimed at film festivals around the world and has won numerous awards. This, along with it being an Australian film with an impending Australian release, makes it a legitimate topic for a film review on a program that brings arts news to its audience.

In this context, the broadcast of scenes from the film providedviewers with an indication of the film’s genre and content. Itaidedthe panel discussionof the merits of the film and its creator. The adult themes and depictions of violence in the film, including the implied sexual violence,are inextricably linked to the film’s narrative. As such, it was also contextually justifiable for the very brief visuals from the filmto be shown during the discussion even though thematerial may have beenoffensive to some viewers.

The broadcast of the scenes had a clear editorial purpose asa review of an acclaimed film that was a psychological thriller. In the context of an arts news program directed at a mature audience, and within a segment that included clear signposting to viewers, the depictions of themes and violence broadcast were editorially justified.

Accordingly, theABCdid not breach Standard 7.1 of the Code.

Compliance with Standard 7.2 [harm and offence – provide classification labels]

Standard 7.2 requires that viewers are provided with information about content they might find offensive through the use of classification labels or other warnings or advice.

As noted above, the ACMA considers that some viewers may have found the broadcast of confronting themes and depictions of violence, including implied sexual violence,offensive.However, visual and verbal consumer advice was provided to the viewer at the beginning of the program, stating ‘Viewer advice. This program contains adult themes’.

Further, in his opening comments in the ‘Pub Chat’ segment, the host explicitly anticipated the inherently offensive nature of the film when he stated that they would be ‘in the very unpleasant company of a serial killer couple’ when the panel came to their discussion about Hounds of Love. The audience was again made aware of the likely nature of the images that would form part of the discussion when, at the outset of the discussion, one of the guests described the film as ‘torture porn’.

The ACMA considers that reasonable efforts were made to provide information about content likely to cause offence using explicit consumer advice about adult themes and dialogue flagging the potentially offensive nature of some of the upcoming content.

Accordingly, the ABC did not breach Standard 7.2 of the Code.

Attachment A

Transcript of the ‘Pub Chat’ segment ofThe Mixbroadcast on ABC on 6 June 2017

Time / Audio / Visuals
0.00 / Voice-over (VO): This program contains adult themes. / Onscreen text:
Viewer Advice
This program contains adult themes.
[…]
12.07 / Onscreen text graphic:Top 5
James Valentine (JV): I’m James Valentine, this is The Mix. We’re off to the pub in a moment to talk about film. The Sydney Film Festival is about to start, there’s some new releases and the big one, Cannes, wrapped up just last weekend. There was some controversy, some surprises. So we thought, ‘Top Five’ this week – the top five highlights from Cannes. The world’s most famous film festival. / Mid shot of JV talking directly to the camera.
12.27 / JV: Now some of the highlights were actually lowlights for many this year. The massive security presence at the festival, and that (still controversial) dress code for the red carpet requiring black bow ties for men and dresses and high heels for women. / Landscape image of Cannes, France with ‘5’ superimposed on top.
Montage of scenes from the Cannes Film Festival 2017.
[…]
14.11 / (Upbeat jazz style music) / Onscreen text: ‘Pub Chat’.
Montage of images depicting three adults walking into a pub as beer is poured from a bar tap.
JV: Alright, let’s have a little chat about film – we don’t even know what film is really anymore. Hello Kate! / JV is inside a pub carrying a tray of drinks from the bar to a table where three people are sitting.
Kate Jinx (KJ): Hello
JV Voice-over: Kate Jinx is the program director at Sydney’s Golden Age Cinema.
JV: Jason!
Jason Di Rosso (JDR): Thank you.
JV Voice-over: Jason Di Rosso is RN’s resident film critic.
JV: Lauren!
Lauren Carroll Harris (LCH): Thanks.
JV Voice-over: Lauren Carroll Harris writes about film, TV and all things streaming for The Guardian. / JV hands each of the three people sitting at the table a drink from the tray as he greets them.