How to complain

You don’t have to be a passive viewer, reader or listener. You can play an active part in improving the output of all our media services by making your views known where it counts. Don’t just wish someone else would do something, do it yourself.

• Guidelines for making a complaint

Who to contact

For more information on where to complain about specific content, see under the sections on different media:

• free to air TV. This includes the ABC, SBS, all commercial television stations, and community TV.
• pay TV
• cinema films, home videos and DVDs
• video and computer games
• Internet
• other media

Send a copy of your concern or complaint to Young Media Australia

Guidelines for making a complaint

Remember the five Ps when you contact a media service.

Prompt

Have your say very soon after the event. There are time limits for the lodgement of comments with some services. Don’t put it off - you may end up not doing it at all.

Precise

Name the time, date, place, media outlet and programme as precisely as you can. Statements such as "there’s too much violence" on TV are not enough.

Persuasive

Back up your views with reference to relevant research, or to relevant media standards, regulation or codes (which may appear to have been breached). There’s nothing as persuasive as evidence that an existing requirement has been breached. (YMA website cross reference: Codes)

Polite

Present your case constructively and firmly.

Persistent

The answer you receive may take a long time, and it may not satisfy you. Write again and restate your case if you believe the response is insufficient.

Influencing the big picture is important

While it is urgent to comment on individual happenings in the media, it is also important to tackle issues at their heart - to examine philosophies underlying certain practices and problems.

Write to the Federal Attorney General

Policy development for the classification of films, videos, DVDs and games is conducted in the federal Attorney General's Department.

Write to politicians

These broad issues can and should be brought to the attention of relevant politicians. Remember, television, films and videos, computer games, and the Internet are essentially Federal issues.

Contribute to Inquiries

Some of the best opportunities arise when a regulatory agency, or media industry body, holds an Inquiry into specific issues, such as Violence on Television, or a review of the Children’s Television Standards. Then there is usually wide ranging consultation and opportunity for well-researched submissions to canvass the basis of particular media regulatory approaches. Keep your eyes on the newspaper advertisements for such occasions. Or link up with a well-informed community group which will let you know about them.