MEDIA RELEASE - Parents’ job made harder by new TV industry code

5 July 2004

‘Parents will have to be more careful in supervising children’s TV viewing following the introduction of the new Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice,’ warned Jane Roberts, President of Young Media Australia, today. ‘G time has been cut by 33%, and PG time increased by 50%,’ Ms Roberts explained. ‘The industry claims that the change will allow greater diversity of programming, but what it really means is that there will be a loss of shows suitable for children to watch unsupervised.’

The new Code’s imposition of additional responsibilities on parents should be matched by a commitment to educate the community. ‘Free TV Australia must work with community groups to ensure an effective grass-roots campaign to raise parents’ awareness of this radical change,’ Ms Roberts added.

YMA Vice President, Associate Professor Elizabeth Handsley, expressed reservations about the provisions relating to food ads. ‘As we said in our submission to the Code review, the new provisions do not address the real issues. Rather they limit ads that expressly endorse an inactive lifestyle or excessive of food or beverages.’

‘As far as we know, very few ads in the past have had this problem. Rather they tend to encourage kids to associate unhealthy foods with fun and social acceptance,’ explained Associate Professor Handsley. ‘The new Code does nothing to address the real nexus between food ads and kids’ eating habits.’
YMA also disagrees with the new provisions relating to:

• Exemption of all sporting events from classification requirements (rather than only live sporting events, as under the previous Code).
• Premium offers in advertising to children – the Code still allows advertisers to link toys with food in a way that YMA has always considered misleading.
• Toy tie-in programmes have not been included in the definition of advertising.

On the other hand, YMA applauded the new Code’s introduction of a downloadable complaints form and retention of the AV classification.

‘On the whole we think the Code doesn’t contain the “adequate consumer safeguards” that the Australian Broadcasting Authority is supposed to find before if registers the Code,’ said Associate Professor Handsley. ‘We wish the regulatory scheme allowed us to make our submissions direct to the ABA rather than going through the industry body which has no duty to take our concerns into account.’

YMA, a not-for-profit organisation, is a unique national body whose members share a strong commitment to the promotion of the healthy development of Australian children, with a particular interest in the role the media plays in that development. It is committed to promoting better choices and providing stronger voices in children’s media.

For more information or to arrange an interview,
please call Jane Roberts (WA) on 0410 509 685, or
Elizabeth Handsley (SA) on 08 8201 5256