Quarterly Summary: 1 April to 30 June 2009
This report provides information about audience contacts finalised by ABC Audience and Consumer Affairs and reviews completed by the ABC’s Complaints Review Executive between 1 April and 30 June 2009.
Audience and Consumer Affairs plays two distinct roles in responding to audience complaints. Where a written complaint suggests that the ABC may have breached its Editorial Policies or Code of Practice, Audience and Consumer Affairs will investigate the complaint and determine whether ABC editorial standards have been met. In cases where these standards have not been met, the complaint will be upheld (either fully or in part) and details published on our website. Audience and Consumer Affairs also provides an
audience liaison service for complaints which do not relate to editorial standards, such as matters of personal taste and preference. These complaints can include scheduling issues, preferences for different presenters, and so on. This report includes complaints in both of the categories described above.
This report outlines:
the overall composition of contacts finalised;
the timeliness of responses;
the subject matter of complaints finalised; and
the number of complaints upheld.
Summary details of all complaints upheld by ABC Audience and Consumer Affairs are available athttp://about.abc.net.au/talk-to-the-abc/feedback-and-enquiries/upheld- complaints/. You can also read some of our recent responses to complaints and enquiries here - http://about.abc.net.au/topics/.
1. Overview of contacts finalised: how many and how did we deal with them?
Overall there were 11,959 written contacts finalised during this period. Of these, complaints made up 55% of contacts with 6,579 complaints (comprising 8,663 issues).
Table 1: Written contacts finalised.
Type of Contact Email Letter/Fax Other Total % of
Total
Complaint 6104 462 13 6579 55%
Appreciation / Request / Suggestion 4685 149 2 4836 40%
Other 499 43 2 544 5%
Grand Total 11288 654 17 11959 100%
Audience and Consumer Affairs provided a personal response to 4,162 of these 6,579 complaints. 847 complaint contacts were referred to other areas of the Corporation for direct response, 10 complaint contacts were handled by the Complaints Review Executive (CRE) and no substantive response was required for 1,560 complaint contacts.
2. Timeliness of responses
Audience and Consumer Affairs seeks to respond to all contacts as quickly as possible, and aims to respond to all contacts within 28 days of receipt, in accordance with the timeliness standard for complaint handling that is specified in the ABC’s Editorial Policies. Due to the large volume of correspondence we receive, and the complex nature of some complaints and enquiries, responses may at times take longer than 28 days.
During the April-June quarter, the vast majority of our responses were provided within the specified 28 day period.
Table 2: Timeliness of responses provided by Audience and Consumer Affairs.
Type of contact Average response time % of responses provided within 28 days
Complaints 20 days 86%
All contacts 18 days 88%
3. Subject matter of complaints finalised
A single contact to the ABC can raise more than one issue. We aim to categorise each significant issue raised in the complaints we receive. The following table counts the number of issues raised in complaints contacts finalised by Audience and Consumer Affairs during the quarter, and shows how they were dealt with and their outcomes. The table also includes complaints reviewed by the CRE.
Report published 28 August 2009.
Table 3: Topics of complaint issues finalised.
Category Topic Sub topic
Audience preferences Quality - general N/A 89 37
Scheduling / program changes Change of format 9 4
Change of timeslot 26 24
Discontinuation of program 76 65
Interruption to regular schedule 7 4
Other 70 51
Too many repeats 21 16
Subtotal 298 201
Broadcast standards Inappropriate content Bad example 54 42 33
Bad language / profanity / swearing 43 41 37 9 24.3%
Drugs / smoking / alcohol 3 3 3
Nudity 13 11 9
Offence to religious feeling 83 77 72 1 1.4%
Other 74 58 55
Poor taste 3003 2086 2051 2004 97.7%
Sex and sexuality 29 22 21
Violence 42 39 34 5 14.7%
Intrusiveness / invasion of privacy N/A 10 9 9 2 22.2%
News values / news content Not enough coverage 124 42 13
Other 62 10 5
Placement in bulletin 9
Too much coverage 61 9 2
Promotions - ABC programs and products Not as advertised / misleading / inconsistent 32 23 10
Other 5 2 1
Too few promotions 4 4
Too many promotions 15 5
Too revealing 2 1
Sensitivity and portrayal N/A 8 6 4
Standards of interviewing Other 16 4 3
Poor context / research / background 32 13 8
Too easy on guest 10 5 5
Too tough / aggressive / rude to guest 52 27 25
Standards of presentation Language - poor terminology / misuse of word 32 5 2
Language - pronunciation / grammar / spelling 113 14 1
Other 194 88 1
Personal presentation 89 9
Program presentation / set design / camera work 39 12 1 Sound quality / voiceovers / background music 60 25
Subtotal 4313 2692 2405 2021 84.0%
Corporate / Infrastructure Captions N/A 20 17
Customer service / complaints handling N/A 142 110 58 12 20.7%
Internet - technical difficulties N/A 151 22
Management issues N/A 2233 2034 2016 2008 99.6%
Transmission N/A 156 16
Subtotal 2702 2199 2074 2020 97.4%
Balance N/A 87 73 64 3 4.7%
Bias Anti-government 18 17 14
Anti-opposition 25 21 20
Other 358 316 280 2 0.7%
Other political 25 22 18
Pro ALP 103 83 74
Pro Coalition 9 7 7
Pro-government 43 37 29
Pro-opposition 11 9 8
Factual inaccuracy N/A 375 324 292 124 42.5%
Failure to disclose N/A 11 10 10 1 10.0%
Incidental advertising - Non ABC products / logos N/A 25 24 22 2 9.1%
Unfair treatment Denigration 71 56 54 2 3.7%
Discrimination 38 36 28 1 3.6%
Other 73 56 49 4 8.2%
Racism 29 25 22 4 18.2%
Sexism 37 31 28 5 17.9%
Subtotal 1338 1147 1019 148 14.5%
Other Other N/A 12 3
Subtotal 12 3
Grand Total 8663 6242 5498 4189 76.2%
Fairness, accuracy &
independence
Total issues upheld
% of investigated
complaints upheld Total
issues closed
Issues responded
to by ACA Issues investigated
by ACA
4. Complaint outcomes
5,498 complaint issues were investigated by the Audience and Consumer Affairs Investigations team. Of these, 4,189 issues (2,140 contacts) were upheld either fully or partially. During this period 2,002 complaints about a sketch on The Chaser’s War On
Everything were each upheld on two counts. If upheld complaint issues about this sketch are excluded from the statistics, 12.4% of investigated complaints were upheld in the period.
In each case where a complaint is upheld Audience and Consumer Affairs provides a written response to the complainant acknowledging the error. Details of each upheld complaint are also published in summary form on our website. Where appropriate, additional action is taken to rectify the mistake and/or ensure that the problem does not recur. Actions taken in response to upheld complaints can include the following: written apologies to
complainants; on-air corrections and apologies; counselling or reprimanding of staff;
amending programs for future broadcasts; and reviews of and improvements to procedures.
On occasion, a complaint may be upheld for more than one reason. Where possible, the corrective action taken is reported in the online summary of the upheld complaint.
