Day: October 17, 2024

In the September Triton podcast ranker released today, the ABC continues to feature more titles than any other publisher and we are the third most listened to publisher in Australia.

As we inch closer to the US general election, the ABC continues to demonstrate the strength of our news offering with ABC News Top Stories taking third place in the ranker and delivering a record high audience of 782,000, up +9% on August.

The strong result caps of an exciting month of announcements for the ABC’s podcast and audio on demand offering.

Earlier this month the ABC published the latest season of the highly anticipated true crime series Unravel: Mr Big.

Hosted by reporter Alicia Bridges, Unravel: Mr Big investigates a secretive crime boss who touts his corrupt connections to police and the courts.

This week also saw the ABC announce Jessica Radburn as our new Head of Audio on Demand.

Jessica is an internationally renowned audio executive who has worked with Wondery and Audible.

In this new role, she will lead the ABC’s audio on demand strategy including our commissioning and development processes and manage our significant podcast slate.

The full Triton Australian Podcast Ranker can be found here.

Audiences can enjoy all the ABC’s podcasts for free and ad free on ABC listen.

The Australian Podcast Ranker is a regular monthly snapshot of Australia’s most popular podcasts. The Ranker has been reporting podcast listening in Australia since 2019 and includes a wide cross section of Australian podcast publishers, from both radio and non-radio backgrounds.

The ACMA has registered a new community radio broadcasting code of practice, establishing an updated set of rules about what can and can’t be played on community radio.

The code was developed by the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA). It is the first broadcasting industry code to be registered since the ACMA asked all industry bodies to review their codes in 2022.

ACMA Chair Nerida O’Loughlin has welcomed the new code and its strengthened community safeguards.

“The new community radio code is the result of substantial work undertaken by CBAA over several years. The ACMA acknowledges the highly collaborative way the review was undertaken and the broader community broadcasting sector’s commitment to the development of the code.

“We are particularly pleased to see stronger protections around news content on community radio, including requirements for impartiality and for reporters to take special care where facts may be contested and not settled,” Ms O’Loughlin said.

Under the new code community radio broadcasters are also committed to align their programming decisions with contemporary community standards, prioritise First Nations voices when reporting on or discussing First Nations issues, and strengthen complaints-handling processes.

The ACMA expects all broadcasters to regularly update their rules to reflect changing broadcasting practices and contemporary audience expectations. This includes providing safeguards to those accessing their content in new ways.

“We remain of the view that it is high time that the broadcasting industry voluntarily extend their rules to cover all TV- and radio-like content they make available online. This would ensure audiences benefit from the same safeguards, regardless of how they access the content,” Ms O’Loughlin said.

The new community radio broadcasting code will commence on 1 July 2025. The existing code will remain active until that time.

The new community radio code is available at: https://www.acma.gov.au/industry-codes-practice

Further information about the code review process is available on the CBAA website.

The revised Community Radio Broadcasting Codes of Practice (2025) have been registered by the Australian Media and Communications Authority (ACMA).  

The new Community Radio Broadcasting Codes will commence on 1 July 2025. The existing Codes will remain active until that time. 

The 2025 Codes consist of 10 Codes, adapted from the current Codes. All changes made were designed to make the Codes easier for stations to put into practice and understand. We are grateful for the input and feedback from our sector throughout the review process. 

The new Codes are the outcome of a lengthy consultation across our sector to ensure they remain relevant and meet community standards in an environment of changing media. The 2025 Codes received overwhelming support with over 98% of responses from community broadcasters endorsing the new Codes.  

From 1 July 2025, the revised Codes (2025) will replace the current Codes (2008). Stations should continue using the current 2008 Codes in the meantime. 

The CBAA will support stations to ensure staff and volunteers understand the changes before they come into effect on July 1, 2025. We are already working on training and guidance materials to support all broadcasters understand and comply with the Codes.  

The new Codes will be accompanied by practical easy-to-use guidance material to help every station and broadcaster to understand how to comply with the new Codes. This guidance material will provide templates for policies, processes to follow and suggestions for best practice. 
  

View the new 2025 Community Radio Codes Broadcasting Codes of Practice here.

17 October 2024: Nine Entertainment (Nine) has today released an independent review of its workplace practices and culture.

The review, conducted by leading organisational culture firm, Intersection, involved a company-wide survey in addition to comprehensive interviews held with members of the TV News & Current Affairs department.

The Nine Board received the Intersection report today and, in the interests of transparency, has released it in full to Nine’s 5000-strong workforce and shared it publicly. The report will inform the work underway to strengthen Nine’s organisational and workplace culture.

The report found that Nine has a systemic issue with abuse of power and authority; bullying, discrimination and harassment; and sexual harassment.

Driving these behaviours is a lack of leadership accountability; power imbalances; gender inequality and a lack of diversity; and significant distrust in leaders at all levels of the business.

The report has made 22 recommendations, prioritised into foundational, intermediate and advanced changes required for the reset of culture at Nine.

After considering the report today, the Nine Board committed to implementing all 22 recommendations, and has requested management to provide the Board and employees a comprehensive action plan to uplift the company’s culture during November 2024.

Nine Chair Catherine West said: “Today is an incredibly difficult day for Nine as we confront these findings and reflect on serious cultural issues as an organisation. The behaviour outlined in the report is unacceptable. Abuse of power, bullying, sexual harassment and inappropriate conduct is not okay. This behaviour has no place at Nine.

“We acknowledge that too many of our past and present employees have been harmed by poor workplace culture, the prevalence of inappropriate workplace behaviours, and an inadequate response in the past from Nine to those behaviours.

“To any individual who has experienced inappropriate conduct that does not meet the values of Nine, we are deeply sorry. On behalf of the Board, I unreservedly apologise.

“The strength and courage these individuals have shown in sharing their stories as part of this process will allow us to move forward as an organisation with a clear understanding of where we went wrong and their insights will help strengthen Nine’s culture for the better. For that, we thank them.

“Despite the proactive culture change agenda already underway, the reality is much more needs to be done and a cultural reset is required. Nine’s Board and leadership team are united in their commitment to accelerating and driving the required change.”

Nine Acting Chief Executive Officer Matt Stanton said: “The Intersection report makes for hard reading for the many people who love working for Nine and all that we stand for. It was personally distressing for me to read these stories from our people. The behaviour experienced by many of our people right across the business is not acceptable in any workplace and falls well below what our people should expect in the work environment.

“While it is important that today all of us at Nine take a moment to reflect, we also move forward with a resolve to do better. We have a responsibility to our people to create a safe and respectful work environment to ensure they can perform at their best. Our people deserve nothing less.”

Intersection Principal Natasha de Silva said: “This report reflects the findings from the most comprehensive review of culture ever undertaken in the Australian media sector. While our review contains sobering findings, the strong survey participation rate is an indication of the willingness of the Nine workforce to be part of the cultural change.

“The recommendations made by the review are intended to build a safe, respectful and inclusive culture at Nine into the future. I am encouraged by the Board and management’s commitment to transparency demonstrated by releasing the review report in full as well as their commitment to implementing the recommendations.”

The report is available here.