Investigation Report No. 3000

File No. / ACMA2013/375
Broadcaster / Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Station / 3LO (ABC 774)
Type of Service / National broadcaster
Name of Program / Breakfast with Red Symons
Date of Broadcast / 25 January 2013
Relevant Code / Standard 7.7 of the ABC Code of Practice 2011
Date Finalised / 26.06.13
Decision / No breach of standard 7.7 [prejudice and stereotypes]

Background

  • The complaint concerns a broadcast by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation(the ABC) of the radio program Breakfast with Red Symonson 25 January2013.
  • Breakfast with Red Symons is a weekday breakfast radio program hosted by Red Symons(the host) and runs from 5:30am to 7:30am.
  • During the program on 25 January 2013 the host played an excerpt of the film Fawlty Towers[1] that had been edited by the BBC 30 years after it was originally produced because it was deemed ‘unfit to put to air’ because it contained racist labels.
  • The host replayed the edited version of the excerpt, explaining that he had made an ‘error of judgment’ in playing the unedited version, and a discussion ensued about the sensitivities surrounding the use of inappropriate racial labels.
  • Caller ‘R’ phoned in and stated she had been labelled a ‘Pom’, pointing out that ‘you’re allowed to say ‘Pom’ yet ‘you’re not allowed to use other words’, but that she did not ‘make a fuss about it’.
  • The host stated, with respect the use of the words in Fawlty Towers, that ‘I would have thought that the Major was highlighting the absurdity of such nomenclature myself’.
  • The host then stated:

Could be worse you could Dutch: a ‘Clog Wog’; a ‘Cheese Head’. That’s a running gag in Austin Powers[2] – he says ‘I’m opposed to racism, and, the Dutch’’[laughs].

  • Both host and caller agreed they were both opposed to racism, but asserted however that ‘people get very sensitive’.
  • A transcript of the segment is at Attachment A.
  • The complainant’s concern is about the reference to Dutch people as ‘Clog Wog’ and ‘Cheese Head’, submitting to the ABC that:

Whilst Mr Symons may argue that these derogatory phrases were used in context, disparaging, insulting and demeaning comments about Dutch people and things pertaining to Dutch people such as the Dutch language are a regular theme on his program.

  • The ABC responded to the complainant submitting that:

The comments were used to highlight that there are many racial labels including “Pom” which Red agreed with Ruth that he was, but that people have the right to oppose being called this. The motivation to use “Dutch” as the example simply came from the Austin Powers reference that uses a contradictory statement in the character stating he is not a racist.

In this context, the traditional insults of the Dutch were clearly used to illustrate racism not to promote or condone it and they would not have had that effect.

Assessment

  • The ACMA has investigated the ABC’s compliance with standard7.7 of the ABC Code of Practice 2011 (the Code):

7Harm and offence

7.7Avoid the unjustified use of stereotypes or discriminatory content that could reasonably be interpreted as condoning or encouraging prejudice.

  • This investigation is based on submissions fromthe complainant and correspondence between the ABC and the complainant. Other sources have been identified where relevant.
  • In assessing content against the Code, the ACMA considers the meaning conveyed by the relevant material, according to the understanding of an ‘ordinary reasonable’listener. Australian courts have considered an ‘ordinary, reasonable reader’ (listener/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[3].

  • Once this test has been applied to ascertain the meaning of the broadcast material, it is for the ACMA to determine whether the material has breached the Code.

Issue: unjustified use of stereotypes or discriminatory content

Finding

The ABC did not breach standard 7.7.

Reasons

  • Standard 7.7 is concerned with the effect of programs on contemporary groups. The issue is therefore whether the program could reasonably be interpreted as condoning or encouraging prejudice against Dutch people.
  • In making this assessment, context is an important consideration.
  • The comments were:

Could be worse you could be Dutch: a ‘Clog Wog’; a ‘Cheese Head’.

  • Use of the terms ‘Clog Wog’ and ‘Cheese Head’ to refer to Dutch people, in isolation, may be regarded as discriminatory against Dutch people. However, in the context of this broadcast the ACMA is not satisfied that they amount to the ‘unjustified use of stereotypes and discriminatory content’, andthat they could reasonably be interpreted by the audience as condoning or encouraging prejudice.

  • The ACMA notes in this regard that that:
  • The thrust of the segment was the sensitivity surrounding inappropriate use of racist labels – using racist labels as examples in this context was not unjustified;
  • early in the segment, the host, referring to the segment of Faulty Towers which he played,commentedon the nonsensical use of insulting racial names stating‘I would have thought the Major was highlighting the absurdity of such nomenclature myself’ –;
  • The terms once used were immediately qualified as being a direct quote from the film Austin Powers, and it was clear that they were not direct references made by the host to Dutch people.
  • The ordinary, reasonable listener would have understood that the host’suse ofthe terms was intended to emphasise the point he was making about the absurdity of such racist labels;
  • Both the host and the caller made it clear that they oppose racism; and
  • The host acknowledged that reactions people may have to racial names, and stated that if people ‘express their sensitivity it’s perfectly reasonable for us to back off and apologise’.
  • Having regard to the above circumstances, the ACMA is satisfied that the ABC did not breach standard 7.7 of the Code.

Appendix A

Breakfast with Red Symons– 25 January 2013

Transcript

…

RS:Ah now I made a very grave error of judgement, ah earlier this morning, ah when I played ah a piece of Faulty Towers which the BBC has deemed, retrospectively, to be ‘unfit to be put to air’. They’ve edited an episode of Fawlty Towers 30 years after the act, you know “oh can’t say that”, goes a bit like this:

Major (Fawlty Towers):And the strange thing was that throughout the morning she kept referring to the Indians as [bleep]. No no no no no no I said, [bleep] are the west Indians, these people are [bleep].

RS: [Laughs] That’s what I should have done. I should have done that. I shouldn’t have put to air the words ‘nigger’ and ‘wog’ because that’s obviously inappropriate. Ah,‘R’ has called from Longwarry. Good morning R.

R: Good morning Red. Love your program in the mornings.

RS:[Laughs]

R:I just needed to comment, I’m English.

RS:Oh you’re a Pom are you?!

R:I’m a Pom exactly.You’re allowed to say Pom.

RS:Well I’m allowed to say because I am one.

R:But do you realise people do call us ‘Poms’...

RS: Yeah I know...

R: ...[A]nd you’re not allowed to use the other words.

RS:Ahhhh....

R:That’s racist.

RS:Yeah I know it’s a funny time we live in. I would have thought that the Major was highlighting the absurdity of such nomenclature myself.

R:I would have done to. But am I allowed to object to being called a Pom?

RS:Um, ah ... Yes you are, you’re allowed to object to it. But do you object to it?

R:No I don’t, I don’t make a fuss about it.

RS:Could be worse you could be Dutch. ... A Clog wog;A cheese head. That’s a running gag in Austin Powers. He says ‘I’m opposed to racism, and the Dutch’. He he he.

R:I’m opposed to racism

RS:Of course we are.

R:I think people get very sensitive.

RS:They do and if they express their sensitivity then it’s probably perfectly reasonable for us to back off and apologise.

ACMA Investigation Report 3000 – Breakfast with Red Symons broadcast by 3LO on 25 January 20131

[1]British sitcom produced by BBC Television and first broadcast in 1975 -

[2]A series of three British comedy films, the first of which wasreleased in 1997 -

[3]Amalgamated Television Services Pty Limited v Marsden (1998) 43 NSWLR 158 at 164–167.