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The Australian Communications and Media Authority has registered new codes of practice for community radio broadcasting services. The new codes of practice are the result of extensive consultation coordinated by the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA) during 2007-08, including public consultation during February and July 2008.
‘The codes, which are a quantum improvement on past codes, have been amended and strengthened to assist the community radio sector in better understanding their obligations and corporate governance requirements and we congratulate the CBAA on the energy they’ve poured into this responsibility’ said Chris Chapman, ACMA Chairman.
‘Licensees will now be required to have written corporate governance policies and procedures that support their management, financial and technical operations, as well as documentation that substantiate their efforts to encourage community participation. These are all signs of a rapidly maturing sector.
‘ACMA is currently developing community broadcasting representation guidelines to provide greater clarity on how licensees can encourage community participation in the operations of a service and in the selection and provision of programs, so it is encouraging to see the community radio sector taking this approach.’
‘The other initiative whose time has come is the confirmation in the codes that complaints can be made by email, a no–brainer in the reality of an on–line world.’
Consistent with other broadcasting sectors, the codes have been updated to include the broadcast of emergency information. Further, the codes clarify that complaints in writing, in addition to letters, include those made by email and fax.
The Community Radio Broadcasting Codes of Practice, November 2008 are available on the ACMA website.
Media contact: Donald Robertson, ACMA Media Manager, on (02) 9334 7980. Backgrounder Under section 123 of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992, industry groups representing the broadcasting industries develop and review their codes of practice in consultation with ACMA.
Consultation takes place with the public and industry which allows community concerns to be identified and evaluated. At the end of the review process, ACMA includes a code in its Register of Codes of Practice if it meets the legislative criteria specified in section 123(4) of the Act, namely, that:
the code provides appropriate community safeguards for the matters it covers;
the code is endorsed by a majority of the providers of broadcasting services in the relevant industry sector; and
there has been adequate public consultation on the code.
The codes of practice for community radio broadcasting services have been in place since 2002 and are reviewed every three to five years.
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