DIGC102 - Week 5 - Regulation
Who regulates radio in Australia?
The primary regulator for free to air radio broadcasting in Australia is the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). As stated on their website, ‘the ACMA’s role, powers, functions and policy objectives are set out in the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 and the the Australian Communications and Media Authority Act 2005’.
The objectives of these policies are to monitor and regulate the ‘desirability of program diversity’, limit the concentration of media ownership on radio (in regards to advertising, and having a bias towards the various media organisations’ interests rather than the listener), limit foreign control of ‘the mass media’, promote and support a presence of the ‘Australian cultural identity’, promote and monitor ‘the fair reporting of news’, and encourage a ‘respect for community standards’.
All of these factors are relevant for both existing broadcasting license holders, and a guide or list of prerequisites to those applying for a new broadcasting license (which are infrequently offered these days).
Further regulation of radio stations and broadcasters includes the planning of the ‘radiofrequency spectrum that radio services use’, administering and authorising licenses for existing and new broadcasters, and the administering of ‘broadcasting codes of practice, standards and license conditions’.
There are also two independent bodies:
- Commercial Radio Australia, who represent ‘Australia’s commercial radio broadcasters’, and
- the Community Broadcaster’s Association of Australia (CBAA), who represent community radio broadcasters.
Each of these, as the CBAA put it, provide ‘leadership, advocacy, and support’ for members, and specifically in the CBAA’s case, to ‘actively provide independent broadcasting services and to build and strengthen local communities.’
http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/
http://www.acma.gov.au/WEB/STANDARD/pc=PC_91787
