Investigation Report No. 2743

File No. / ACMA2012/73
Broadcaster / Special Broadcasting Service
Station / SBS TV1
Type of Service / National broadcasting
Name of Program / Dateline program promotion
Date of Broadcast / 27 October 2011
Relevant Code / Clause 1.6 of the SBS Codes of Practice 2006
Date Finalised / 10 April 2012
Decision / No breach of clause 1.6 [dealing with religion]

Background

In December 2011 the Australian Communications and Media Authority (the ACMA) received a complaint regarding a promotion for the program Dateline that was broadcast on SBS TV1 by the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) on 27 October 2011. The complainant alleged that the program promotion ‘desecrated’ the Christian religion.

Dateline is a one hour current affairs program broadcast weekly on SBS TV1. The program promotion for Dateline that was the subject of the complaint was broadcast at approximately 6.50 pm during SBS’s nightly one hour news program, World News Australia. It lasted for 30 seconds andpromoted two stories that were to be featured on an upcoming edition of Dateline: a story on marriage in Malaysia and a profile of well-known author, essayist and journalist Christopher Hitchens.

A transcript of the full program promotion is at Attachment A.

This investigation is based on submissions from the complainant and from SBS and a copy of the broadcast provided to the ACMA by SBS.

Matters not pursued

In his complaint to the ACMA the complainant also asserted that:

SBS is relentlessly broadcasting insulting and discrediting religious documentaries that are specifically and exclusively targeting the Christian faith, and leaving all of the other religions alone while ignoring the SBS clause of religion.

However, the ACMA is only able to investigate complaints about specific broadcasts that have been made to the relevant broadcaster in the first instance. The ACMA has no jurisdiction to investigate complaints about programming in general. The complaint made to SBS only referred to the program promotion for Dateline broadcast on 27 October 2011. Accordingly, this is the broadcast that the ACMA is investigating.

Relevant code clause

Clause 1.6 of the SBS Codes of Practice 2006(the Code) states:

1.6RELIGIONS

SBS broadcasts in accordance with the principle that Australia is a secular democracy.

SBS recognises the importance of religion for the many communities that make up Australian society and the potential for programming dealing with religion to cause cross-cultural tensions. In broadcasting programs about religion, SBS will not support any particular religion over any other, nor intentionally provide a medium for one religion to denigrate another.

Finding

SBS did not breach clause 1.6 of the Code.

Reasons

Clause 1.6 of the Code provides that: ‘In broadcasting programs about religion, SBS will not support any particular religion over any other, nor intentionally provide a medium for one religion to denigrate another’.

For the following reasons the ACMA is of the view that the program promotion for Dateline did not support any particular religion over any other and did not provide a medium for one religion to denigrate another.

  1. Prior to the quote from Christopher Hitchens, the voiceover states that Mr Hitchens is fighting cancer and ‘still fighting religion’. The clear implication is that Mr Hitchens is against religion generally rather than against any particular religion, including Christianity.
  2. Furthermore, Christopher Hitchens clearly states: ‘If Jesus wasn’t the son of God he was a hideous wicked imposter’ (emphasis added). He does not make any assertion to the effect that Jesus was not the son of God.

The ACMA therefore finds that the program promotion for Dateline broadcast on 27 October 2011 did not breach the provisions of clause 1.6 of the Code.

ATTACHMENT A

Transcript of Dateline program promotion broadcast on 27 October 2011

Voiceover: Dateline takes a trip down the aisle in Malaysia, to learn the secrets of a happy marriage.

Malaysian woman 1: I must give full obedience.

Voiceover: The controversial Obedient Wives Club claim they’re teaching Malaysian women how to stop their husbands straying.

Malaysian woman 2: Fulfil his desire more than what a first class prostitute can do.

Voiceover: Plus, renowned writer and thinker Christopher Hitchens fights cancer and, still fighting religion.

Christopher Hitchens: If Jesus wasn’t the son of God he was a hideous, wicked imposter.

Announcer: Dateline, Sunday 8.30.

ACMA Investigation Report – program promotion for Dateline broadcast by SBS TV1 on 27October 2011 1