Investigation Report No. 2770

ACMA file reference / ACMA2012/306
Licensee / Channel 9 South Australia Pty Ltd
Station / NWS, GO! Adelaide
Type of Service / Commercial Broadcasting (Television)
Name of Program / V (titled: Mother’s Day)
Time and Date of Broadcast / 8.30 pm, 23 March 2011
Relevant Legislation/Code /
Broadcasting Services Act 1992
  • Section 149
Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice January 2010
  • Clause 2.4 (Classification of all other material)
  • Appendix 4 (Television Classification Guidelines – M classification)

Investigation conclusion

  • No breach of Clause 2.4 (Classification of all other material) of the Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice January 2010(the Code).

The complaint

On 13February 2012, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (the ACMA) received a written complaint, via email, about an episode of the program V which was broadcast by Channel 9 South Australia Pty Ltd (NWS) on 23 March 2011.

The complaint alleged that the M-classified program contained violence which exceeded that which can be accommodated within an M classification.

Not satisfied with the response provided by NWS, the complainant forwarded the matter to the ACMA for investigation.

The program

V is a science fiction television series that dramatises an alien visitation-cum-invasion of Earth and subsequent resistance by a group of humans.

The 42 minuteepisodeof V(titled Mother’s Day) was screened by NWS on 23 March 2011 at approximately 8.30 pm with an M classification.

Assessment

The assessment is based on a copy of the relevant broadcast provided to the ACMA by NWS as well as submissions from the licensee and complainant (the latter of which alsoincluded a response to the complainant fromthe licensee).

Relevant provisions

The Code contains the following provisions that are relevant in the matter raised by the complainant:

Classification of Other Material

2.4All other material for broadcast: Subject to Clauses 2.3 and 2.4.1, all other material for broadcast must be classified according to the Television Classification Guidelines (set out in Appendix 4)

[...]

The Mature (M) Classification

4Material classified M is recommended for viewing only by persons aged 15 years or over because of the matter it contains, or of the way this matter is treated.

4.1Violence: May be realistically shown if it is not frequent or of high impact, and is justified by the story line or program context. Violence should not be presented as desirable in its own right. Any visual depiction of or verbal reference to violence occurring in a sexual context must be infrequent and restrained, and strictly justified by the story line or program context.

Complainant’s submissions

In correspondence to the licensee, dated 6 April 2011, the complainant stated the following:

[...] I believe that the episode contained violence that had a high impact and that the episode should have been classified as AV15+ and broadcast after 9.00pm.

In correspondence to the ACMA, dated 13 February 2012, the complainant stated the following:

I believe that the episode contained violence that had a high impact and that the episode should have been classified as AV15+ and broadcast after 9.30pm.

The complainant also includes quotations from a Classification Board decision report in which the Classification Board describe certain scenes within the episode that is the subject of complaint. The complainant states that:

[...] The Board’s reasons [...] referred to examples of the strong violence and themes. It commented on scenes from episode 1 and 2 and then also from episode 10.

Broadcaster’s submissions

In correspondence to the complainant dated 18 April 2011 regarding the program, the licenceeprovided the following relevant submissions:

[...] I am aware of the 3 brief sequences during the final 20 minutes of the program. In saying brief, the sequences including cut-away visuals which lessen the impact somewhat, were 25, 18 [and] 23 seconds respectively and amounting to just over 1 minute out of the 42 minute program. I will admit that the final sequence in which the Reptile Clone of Lisa kills Tyler after ‘breeding’ with him is at the high end of what can be accommodated at the M level, the episode however still falls within the guidelines of clause 4.1 above with respect to context, frequency and most importantly impact which is reduced by the use of intercut visuals between other scenes and camera angles.

In correspondence to the ACMA dated 7 March 2012 regarding the classification of the program, the licencee provided the following relevant submissions:

[...] The episode referred to is the final episode of the two series of a total of 22 episodes telling the story of an alien race that invades Earth, cloaking their evil plans to take over the world by appearing to come in peace and disguising their reptilian species by the use of an artificial latex-like skin [...] I am supplying these brief background details to clearly establish that the genre of the piece is that of science-fiction fantasy and that this is relevant in relation to the way certain acts of violence are to be judged.

[...] Thus, the depiction of violence in a realistic drama series carries a stronger impact than that in a fantasy, cartoon or sci-fi genre because of the ‘way the matter is treated’, as the first will always resonate more intensely with a viewer as compared with the distancing effect of similar events in the un-real world of fantasy, such as this ‘sci-fi’ series.

Finding

The ACMA finds that the Channel 9 South Australia Pty Ltd, in broadcasting the program V on 23 March 2011, did not breach Clause 2.4 (Classification of all other material) of the Code.

Reasons

Classification of Other Material

Clause 2.4 (Classification of all other material) of the Code states that all other material for broadcast must be classified according to the Television Classification Guidelines (set out in Appendix 4 of theCode).

The Mature (M) Classification

The Code states that violence may be realistically shown only if it is not frequent or of high impact, and is justified by the story line or program context.

Accordingly, consideration needs to be given to whether the violence is realistically shown, frequent or high in impact and if it is justified by appropriate context.

Thetwo scenes of most note containing violence within the episode are:

At approximately 24 minutes, Anna kills her mother, Diana, by way of impaling her with her hitherto hidden barbed tail. The scene depicts Diane with the barbed tail explicitly protruding from her abdomen with some blood detail on her white dress. Anna thrashes her tail about with Diana on the end of it before throwing her to the ground. A post action visual depicts Diana lying on the ground with some blood detail on her dress as she dies.

At approximately 40 minutes, a female alien (wearing a ‘skin’ to resemble the character Anna) implicitly bites the character of Tyler on the neck some time after they have had discreetly implied sex. While the female’s sharp and unnatural-appearing alien teeth are depicted, the point of contact with Tyler’s neck is obscured, making the actual bite implied. Blood is briefly seen to cover the bedclothes and post action visuals show the female alien with a bloody face briefly lick her lip and blood covering Tyler’s neck and bedclothes.

The scenes are contained within an episode of a series whose established narrative primarily involves highly unrealistic events – in the form of an alien visitation-cum-invasion of Earth – that are dealt with using stylised imagery specific to a science fiction context – such as reptilian-like alien beings and the interiors and exteriors of spacecraft.

Both of the scenes that depict substantive violence do so as key narrative events – the murder of Diana by her daughter, Anna, and the murder of a resistance fighter’s son by Anna’s daughter - that logically build on the preceding plot and characterisations and appear wholly justified in treatment and inclusion within a science fiction series that dwells on familial and other relationships to supply drama.

While the violence does contain blood detail, it is largely devoid of any other realistic wound detail, and, considering the fantastic manner by which the violence is inflicted, is not overly realistic in the way it is shown.

The scenes are also brief within the context of an approximately 42 minute program, and, as such, the violence is not frequent or prolonged.

Further, although featuring limited visuals that some may find otherwise strong, the impact of the violence does not reach a high level due to its overall infrequency, brevity, lack of realistic detail and impact-mitigating treatment within a science fiction context.

Accordingly, the violence can be accommodated within the M classification.

It is therefore considered that NWS did not breach Clause 2.4 (Classification of all other material) of the Code.

ACMA Investigation Report – V broadcast by NWSon 23 March 20111