The ACMA launched an investigation on 18 March 2019 into coverage of the terrorist attack on Australia’s commercial, national and subscription television broadcast services.

There is a long-standing regulatory framework in place concerning the broadcast of news and current affairs programs on Australian television. Broadcasters have codes of practice in place that provide audience safeguards. Our investigation considered whether coverage of the terrorist attack complied with code provisions intended to provide audience safeguards, whether it raised questions about the adequacy of those safeguards and whether codes of practice provide sufficiently robust community protections to deal with this kind of material.

The ACMA’s investigation included the review of more than 200 hours of broadcast footage as well as analysis of the detailed information provided by broadcasters about the editorial decisions they made in relation to that footage.