Review of the commercial radio standards: Issues paper

• Australian Communications and Media Authority

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27 February 2010Recently released ACMA research indicates that radio in Australia remains a highly popular and influential medium, with music, news and information and talkback the top three preferred program formats in 2009.

It confirms that commercial radio is an important source of news and current affairs information for listeners, particularly regular commercial AM talkback listeners, and that sponsorship and advertising practices matter to citizens and consumers.

The issues paper invites submitters to reconsider the standards from ‘first principles’ taking account of the interests of commercial radio listeners as citizens and as consumers, as well as industry concerns about a range of operational issues. In view of developments since their commencement, the ACMA has identified the following issues as appropriate for consideration against each of the current standards:

1. Whether there is a need for regulation and, if so, what model of regulation and what regulatory mechanism is most appropriate, effective and efficient.
2. If there remains a need for regulation, the scope of any regulation.
3. If there remains a need for regulation, how such regulation should be put into operation.

Electronic copy of the issues paper and related research reports are available below: