Investigation Report No. 3001
File no. / ACMA2013/374Broadcaster / Australian Broadcasting Commission
Station / 3LO (ABC 774) Melbourne
Type of service / National broadcaster
Name of program / AM
Date of broadcast / 7 January 2013
Relevant code / Standards 2.1 and 2.2 of the ABC Code of Practice 2011
Date Finalised / 2 July 2013
Decision / No breach of standards 2.1 and 2.2 [accuracy]
Background
· The Australian Communications and Media Authority (the ACMA) received a complaint about the program, AM, broadcast on 7 January 2013 on radio station 774 ABC Melbourne.
· AM is a current affairs program hosted by Tony Eastley from 8am Monday to Saturday on local radio and from 7.10am Monday to Saturday on national radio. The program is described on the ABC’s website as:
AM is Australia’s most informative morning current affairs program. AM sets the agenda for the nation’s daily news and current affairs coverage.[1]
· The segment the subject of the complaint was entitled ‘GPs the frontline in reporting domestic violence’, and highlighted calls for new GPs to be trained to recognise the signs of domestic violence. The segment included interviews with a GP from the University of Melbourne as well as a victim of domestic violence.
· A transcript of the segment is reproduced at Attachment A.
· The complainant submitted to the ABC that the following statements made during the segment were inaccurate and misleading:
‘... a recent survey in Victoria found family violence is the leading cause of death and ill health in women of child bearing age.’
…
‘It’s [family violence] the leading contributor to death and disability for women of child-bearing age.’
· The complainant provided data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS); the Australian Institute of Criminology; and the Australian Institute of Health, in support of the argument that ‘family violence’:
o is not the leading cause of ‘death and ill health’ in women of child bearing age;
o is not the leading contributor to ‘death and disability’ for women of child-bearing age.
· The ABC submitted to the complainant that it is satisfied that the program was accurate in stating that the call for GP training was prompted by the VicHealth survey referred to in the segment, and that the survey ‘does indeed reach such a conclusion’. The ABC further submitted that ‘the fact that other reports may contradict these findings or use different methodology, does not mean that the ABC has been inaccurate in its reporting of this matter’.
· In his subsequent complaint to the ACMA, the complainant raised specific concerns with respect the VicHealth survey referred to by the ABC, and the way in which it was presented in the segment. The complainant noted:
o The presenter’s reference to a ‘recent survey’ is inaccurate as the survey in question was from 2004.
o The presenter’s statement gives the impression that the survey referred to women Australia-wide when it was based in Victoria only.
o The VicHealth survey refers to ‘intimate partner violence’ however the segment refers to ‘family violence’, which differ in meaning.
o The VicHealth survey refers to ‘death, disability and illness’, when the relevant statements incorrectly refer to ‘death and ill health’ and then ‘death and disability’, in doing so misrepresenting the survey findings.
o The terms ‘cause’ and ‘contributor’ have different meanings in public health terminology, again misrepresenting the survey findings.
· The ACMA’s jurisdiction for investigation is confined to the matters initially complained about by the complainant to the ABC. That is, whether it was inaccurate and misleading for the segment to state that ‘family violence is the leading cause of death and ill health in women of child bearing age, and the leading contributor of death and disability for women of child bearing age’. Accordingly, these additional elements of the complaint have only been considered to the extent that they fall within the scope of the original complaint made to the ABC.
· The investigation has considered the ABC’s compliance with standards 2.1 and 2.2 of the ABC Code of Practice 2011 (the Code):
Accuracy
2.1 Make reasonable efforts to ensure that material facts are accurate and presented in context
2.2 Do not present factual content in a way that will materially mislead the audience. In some cases, this may require appropriate labels or other explanatory information.
In assessing whether content amounts to fact or opinion, the ACMA uses considerations set out at Attachment B.
Assessment
· The investigation is based on submissions from the complainant and ABC, correspondence between the ABC and the complainant, and a copy of the broadcast provided by the ABC. Other sources have been identified where relevant.
· In assessing content against the Codes, the ACMA considers the meaning conveyed by the relevant material broadcast. This is assessed according to the understanding of an ‘ordinary reasonable’ viewer/listener.
· Australian Courts have considered an ‘ordinary, reasonable’ reader (or 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].
· The ACMA examines what the ‘ordinary, reasonable’ listener would have understood the relevant material to have conveyed, in the context of the relevant segment. It considers the natural, ordinary meaning of the language, context, tenor, tone and any inferences that may be drawn.
· Once this test has been applied to ascertain the meaning of the material that was broadcast, it is for the ACMA to determine whether that material has breached the Code.
Issue: Accuracy
Finding
The ABC did not breach standards 2.1 and 2.2 of the Code.
Reasons
· The complainant submitted that the following statements are inaccurate:
1. ‘... a recent survey in Victoria found family violence is the leading cause of death and ill health in women of child bearing age.’
2. ‘It’s [family violence] the leading contributor to death and disability for women of child-bearing age.’
· In applying standard 2.1 of the Code the ACMA usually adopts the following approach:
o Was the particular material (the subject of the complaint) factual in character?
o Did it convey a ‘material’ fact or facts in the context of the relevant segment?
o If so, were those facts accurate?
o If a material fact was not accurate, (or its accuracy cannot be determined) did the ABC make reasonable efforts to ensure that the ‘material’ fact was accurate and presented in context?
· In applying standard 2.2 of the Code, the ACMA usually adopts the following approach:
o Was the particular material (the subject of the complaint) factual in character?
o Was that factual content presented in way that would materially (i.e. in a significant respect) mislead the audience?
Statement one
· The first statement the subject of the complaint (in bold) was made in the following context:
Presenter: There are calls today for all new GPs to be trained to recognise the signs of domestic violence.
They've been prompted by a recent survey in Victoria that found family violence is the leading cause of death and ill health in women of child bearing age.
Currently, maternity and child health workers receive training, as well as police. But a leading academic says it's now time to make sure all doctors recognise the signs too.
· Using the considerations set out at Attachment B, the ACMA is satisfied that this statement amounts to factual content as it was presented in a conclusive and unequivocal manner.
· The ordinary, reasonable listener would have understood from the statement that a recent survey in Victoria found that family violence is the leading cause of death and ill health in women of child bearing age. The statement conveyed a material fact about the focus of the segment, namely, domestic violence, and calls to train GPs in more effectively detecting signs of domestic violence.
· The complainant submitted that the relevant statement was inaccurate based on ABS data which states that intentional self-harm was the leading cause of death and ill health in women aged between 15 and 44 years in 2010.
· Further, the complainant referred to information from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare for 2003 which he states demonstrates that ‘violence (let alone the subset of family violence) does not make the list’ for the top five causes of death, disability and illness (combined) for Australian women aged 15 to 44 years. The information provided by the complainant for this category states that ‘anxiety and depression’ is the leading cause.
· In its correspondence to the ACMA, the ABC asserted that the relevant statement was based on the following content:
1. Article from VicHealth website - How violence against women affects health[3], which refers to a 2009 study, ‘National Community Attitudes towards Violence against Women Survey 2009’ [4]
2. The health costs of violence – Measuring the burden of disease caused by intimate partner violence - 2004[5]
· These studies relevantly provide that:
‘Violence against women is the biggest contributor to ill health and premature death in women aged 15-44’ (article from VicHealth accessed 1/7/13, which refers to the 2009 Study)
[Intimate partner violence] is the leading preventable contributor to death, disability and illness in Victorian woman aged 15-44, being responsible for more of the disease burden than many well-known risk factors such as high blood pressure, smoking and obesity(2004 study)
....
· The ACMA is satisfied that the broadcast accurately reflects the findings of the study outlined above. In coming to this conclusion the ACMA notes that:
o The purpose of the segment focused on raising awareness of domestic violence and the calls for GPs to receive training to recognise the symptoms of domestic violence. The segment’s reference to the survey in this context was brief.
o The presenter clearly attributed the findings to a specific survey, which it stated had prompted calls for specialised training for new GPs. It is not in dispute that the study referred to prompted such calls, and the currency of the study is not relevant in these circumstances.
· The ACMA is satisfied that the broadcast accurately presented all material facts and did not contain factual content that was materially misleading.
· Accordingly, the ABC has complied with standards 2.1 and 2.2 in relation to statement one made in the broadcast.
Statement two
· The second statement the subject of the complaint (in bold) was made in the following context:
Doctor: I see family violence as a hidden epidemic. There would be about five women per week who are coming to the GP with quite serious combined physical and emotional abuse and they would not necessarily be detected by the GP. It's as common as breast cancer or asthma and it's the leading contributor to death and disability for women of child-bearing age.
· The complainant alleges that the relevant statement is inaccurate because ABS data, along with information from the Australian Institute of Criminology and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare demonstrate that family violence is not the leading cause of death and disability for women of child-bearing age.
· It is not necessary to come to a finding with respect to the accuracy of this statement, as the ACMA considers that the statement amounts to a viewpoint.
· Using the considerations set out at Attachment B, several aspects of the language, tenor and tone used in the entire comment by the Doctor suggest that the relevant statement was not presented as factual material of an unequivocal nature.
· The use of the terms such as ‘I see family violence as a hidden epidemic’ and ‘about five women per week...with quite serious combined ... abuse’, and ‘they would not necessarily be detected’ are inherently subjective and indicate the expression of a personal viewpoint.
· On balance, the ACMA is satisfied that the Doctor expressed her viewpoint in light of her expert knowledge on the subject and prevalence of domestic violence; the difficulty of detecting signs of domestic violence; and the need to better train GP’s in the area.
· Accordingly, the ABC has complied with its requirements under standards 2.1 and 2.2 of the Code.
Attachment A
Transcript - AM – 7 January 2013
Presenter: There are calls today for all new GPs to be trained to recognise the signs of domestic violence.
They've been prompted by a recent survey in Victoria that found family violence is the leading cause of death and ill health in women of child bearing age.
Currently, maternity and child health workers receive training, as well as police. But a leading academic says it's now time to make sure all doctors recognise the signs too.
[Reporter] reports.
Reporter: It's not easy for survivors of domestic abuse to talk or admit to what they're suffering.
So Melbourne GP [Doctor] says there's a few key questions her colleagues need to be asking.
Doctor: Things about how is your relationship, but you might get an answer like 'OK' and you become more specific. Are you afraid of your partner or ex-partner or are you safe to go home today or have you felt unsafe at home.
And then you may have to ask directly, you might say look many women who are feeling sad or anxious, underlying that is things that are going on at home and sometimes in relationships, violence is happening. Is that happening to you?
Reporter: Dr Hegarty is also associate professor of General Practice at the University of Melbourne and the co-chair of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners. She says all GPs should be trained to recognise the signs of domestic violence.
Doctor: Well we know that if we train GPs that they self report about whether they feel comfortable asking, whether they feel like they feel less overwhelmed by talking about this issue, they feel more confident about what they can do.
And certainly women report that they're more likely in some cases to be asked and for themselves to feel more comfortable about discussing it.
Victim: I was living a lie. I'm a professional and I was going to work and I was being what everyone expected me to be, the professional woman out there in the market place and then coming home and putting up with the violence and the arguments and the - everything that surrounds domestic violence.
Reporter: [Victim’s] 13 year marriage was destroyed by physical domestic violence. She says doctors could help by referring women to support services.
Victim: It would save lives, it would save money within the medical system, it would - and that psychological help - it could short-circuit the time that a person stays in the actual relationship because we - it's deemed to be our shame. It's the woman's shame that we're allowing this to happen to us and it's all our fault.
So if someone was to support us and get us out of that, by recognising and letting us know that it's not our fault, and it's not our shame, it's their shame. If we had other people telling us that maybe we might get out of the relationship a lot quicker.
Reporter: Last year Domestic Violence Victoria trained 4,000 frontline workers to recognise the symptoms of domestic violence, including police, child protection officers, youth workers, and maternity and child health service employees.
The University of Melbourne's [Doctor] says undergraduate GPs receive just three hours of training, but she says that's a drop in the ocean considering the size of the problem.
Doctor: I see family violence as a hidden epidemic. There would be about five women per week who are coming to the GP with quite serious combined physical and emotional abuse and they would not necessarily be detected by the GP.
It's as common as breast cancer or asthma and it's the leading contributor to death and disability for women of child-bearing age.
So it needs sometimes more money to have a strategic approach to this group of doctors and to engage them. And so at a state and a federal level, there needs to be more money put towards this.
Presenter: The University of Melbourne's [Doctor], ending [reporter’s] report.
And if you need help with domestic violence you can call the Domestic Violence Crisis Line on 1800 656 463.