Investigation report no. BI-177
SummaryFile no. / BI-177
Broadcaster / Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Station / ABC News 24
Type of service / National broadcasting—television
Name of program / ABC News Breakfast
Date of broadcast / 15 December 2015
Relevant code / Standard 7.1 [harm and offence] of the ABC Code of Practice 2011 (revised in 2014)
Date finalised / 13 May 2016
Decision / No breach ofStandard 7.1 [harm and offence]
Opening
In February 2016, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (the ACMA) commenced an investigation under section151 of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992(the BSA) intoa complaintaboutABC News Breakfast,broadcast on ABC News 24 by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on 15 December 2015.
The complainant alleged that comments about home schooling, made by one of the program’s presenters, Ms Virginia Trioli, were offensive.
The ACMA has investigated the broadcast material against standard 7.1 of the ABC Code of Practice 2011 (revised in 2014) (the Code).
The program
ABC News Breakfast is anews program, described as providing:
… the very latest news, incisive analysis and intelligent debate.[1]
ABC News Breakfast is broadcast on weekday mornings between 6.00am and 9.00am. A regular segment features a selection of the day’s newspaper stories.
A transcript of the segment broadcast on 15 December 2015 is 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’ listener or viewer.
Australian courts have considered an ‘ordinary reasonable’ listener or 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.
The investigation takes into account the complaintand the submissions from the ABC. Other sources are identified as relevant.
Relevant standard
7.1 Content that is likely to cause harm or offence must be justified by the editorial context.
The Code requires that standards are interpreted and applied in accordance with relevant Principles, including:
…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 gave 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 broadcasterdid not breach Standard 7.1 of the ABC Code of Practice 2011 (revised in 2014).
Reasons
The complainant submitted to the ABC:
During a discussion of the days newspapers with Peter Wilmoth, Virginia Trioli's overall opinion and attitude to homeschooling was less than positive and I found her statement about ' weirdos or saints' to be extremely offensive.
On the website, catholicexchange.com they ask a relevant question, Why is the perception of the weirdo homeschooler so pervasive?
The complainant submitted to the ACMA:
My wife and I 'home school' our daughter as she suffers with SOCIAL ANXIETY DISORDER, prevalence rates between 5.7% to 15.4% in children aged 7 to 11 years.
We are neither 'weirdos or saints' and we are offended, dismayed and disgusted by Ms.Trioli's words
The ABCresponded to the complainant:
This was a story which portrayed a very positive VCE[3] result by a student who was home schooled.
Our guest paper reviewer Peter Wilmoth even described it as a stunning and heart-warming story, a view with which Virginia agreed with saying ‘it is’.
As part of the discussion Virginia raised the question why parents choose to home school their children. Her comments regarding ‘weirdo’s and saints’ was not intended as a disparaging opinion by merely emphasised that she didn’t understand the motivation; a point which Mr Wilmoth then expands on in relation to time poor families and time management within households.
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 offend, then the matter ends there. But 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?
Does the material have the intrinsic capacity to cause harm or offence?
The particular phrase complained about is:
[T]he stories behind home schooling are intriguing to me – (a) why would any parent want to do that, you are either weirdos or you are total saints, I can’t figure it out
Thisphrase uses two descriptive terms, ‘weirdos’ and ‘saints’.
Weirdo -colloquial: someone who behaves in a strange, abnormal, or eccentric way.[4]
Saint - colloquial: a person to whom one feels indebted for an act of generosity or kindness.[5]
The comment was about parents who home school their children. The discussion opened with news of perfect Year 12 VCE results including those achieved by a young manwho had been home schooled for much of his secondary education, which Ms Trioli described as ‘a very interesting’ story.
Mr Wilmoth said it was a ‘great story’, the ‘best story of the year’ and later ‘a stunning story’ and ‘a heart-warming story about sacrifice and hard-work’. Ms Trioli’s remark about why parents would want to home school their children followed the statement, ‘the stories behind home schooling are intriguing to me’ and later she acknowledged some of the potential difficulties, such as social isolation, that had to be overcome.
The ordinary reasonable viewer would have understood ‘wierdo’ as a colloquial term.While the term can be used pejoratively,in the context of the discussion it was likely to have been understood as meaning‘eccentric’ rather than ‘abnormal’ or ‘strange’. It was a fleeting remark and there were no other negative statements about parents who home school their children.
The term was balanced by the use of the descriptor ‘saint’ which would have been understood to refer to the time and effort parents devoted tohome schooling their children.
Although the use of the term ‘weirdo’ may have been insensitive, the overall tone of the exchange in which the phrase was used was positive.
The ACMA accepts the submission that the comment was framed in the context of Ms Trioli expressing her lack of understanding of, and curiosity about, the motivations behind parents who home school – ‘why would any parent want to’ and ‘I can’t figure it out’.
In this context, the ACMA does not consider that the use of the term ‘weirdo’ had the intrinsic capacity to cause harm or offence. To the extent that the phrase ‘weirdos or you are total saints’may have caused offence to some of the audience, the ACMA notes that there were factors moderating any harm or offence: the remark was brief, rhetorical in nature and there was no exploration of any negative attributes of parents who home school their children.
There was also an editorial context for a remark about the motivations of parents who home school their children given that the discussion focussed on the perfect VCE results of a young man who had been home schooled.
The ACMA acknowledges that the complainant was offended by Ms Trioli’s remark. However,in the context of its usage, the ACMA does not consider that it had the intrinsic capacity to cause harm or offence.
Accordingly, the broadcasterdid not breach Standard 7.1 of the Code.
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Attachment A
TRANSCRIPTABC News Breakfast (15 December 2015)
VirginaTrioli:Now look we’re getting all the Year 12 results, of course, rolling out across the country. Yesterday it was Victoria’s turn and we’ve got a number, of course, of perfect VCE results, but this one in particular is a very interesting one, tell us about it.
Peter Wilmoth:It’s a great story and the media always looks for the best story, the best story of the year
VirginaiTrioli:Yes
Peter Wilmoth:And in fact this one is about a young man whose family emigrated from China whose mother taught him at home until Year 10
Virginia Trioli:So home schooled
Peter Wilmoth:Home schooled
Virginia Trioli:Why?
Peter Wilmoth:Ah – we don’t know – the story doesn’t really explain that
Virginia Trioli:I ….. the stories behind home schooling are intriguing to me. (a) why would any parent want to do that, you are either weirdos or you are total saints I can’t figure it out
Peter Wilmoth:Well where’s the time to home school? Aren’t you busy cleaning up, having your own career, cooking food?If I’d been home schooled I’d be an expert on nature walkabout by Vincent Serventy.Do you remember that?
Virginia Trioli:No. If I’d have been home schooled I would have been an expert on Gilligan’s Island.
Peter Wilmoth:Ah – really?
Virginia Trioli:Yes.
Peter Wilmoth:And would you wonder where the batteries came for the radio? On a deserted island ten years in?
Virginia Trioli:(Laughing) It did occur to me.It really did.
Peter Wilmoth:Did you think the professor …
Virginia Trioli:No, look, we know there are flaws in the plot, but he’s got a perfect VCE result, then he ends up going to, no actually he didn’t go to school, he did the rest of it by distance education.
Peter Wilmoth:Yes, it’s a stunning story.
Virginia Trioli:It is.
Peter Wilmoth:It’s a very heart-warming story about sacrifice and hard work and commitment from a young man where there are distractions at home as you know there’s the internet there’s other stuff.
Virginia Trioli:But wasn’t he lonely? I mean, what about his fellow friends at school and playing at school and sports and everything?What about that stuff?
Peter Wilmoth:Well, exactly.
Virginia Trioli:Doesn’t that matter?
Peter Wilmoth:Well, you only want to be home to a certain extent, you want to be around your peers sometimes.
Virginia Trioli:I did.
Peter Wilmoth:I agree with you. I don’t understand it but well done to him.Great effort.
Virginia Trioli:Well done to him.
ACMA Investigation report—ABC News Breakfast broadcast by ABC News 24 on 15 December 20151 of 8
[1] accessed 14 April 2016.
[2]Amalgamated Television Services Pty Limited v Marsden (1998) 43 NSWLR 158 at pp 164–167.
[3] Victorian Certificate of Education
[4]Macquarie Dictionary Sixth Edition, accessed 22 April 2016
[5] Macquarie Dictionary Sixth Edition, accessed 22 April 2016