Ten breaches rules on privacy and sensitivity

Tim Burrowes

August 19, 2009 12:08

The Ten network breached the privacy rules in commercial TV’s code of practice , the media watchdog has ruled.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority looked into complaints over its coverage of a fatal boat explosion in May 2008.

It found that “Ten failed to exercise the requisite sensitivity in its reporting of the boat explosion in Port Melbourne where two people died and others were seriously injured, by broadcasting prolonged footage of a man who had lost his parents in the explosion.”

ACMA also looked into Ten’s reporting of a house fire in June last year.

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Tim Burrowes

Tim Burrowes is the publisher of Mumbrella and Unmade. He co-founded Mumbrella in 2008 and sister title Unmade in 2021. He's worked in the UK, Middle East, Asia & Australia and has specialised in writing about the communications world for the last 25 years. He wrote the book Media Unmade, published in 2021, and became the presenter of MediaLand on ABC Radio National in 2025.