During one of my crazy loosey-goosey hardcore days, I was
watching ABC3 and a program called BTN came on. In a nutshell, this show
presents shortened stories of recent news, tidbits that aren't that important
or well-known so as to appear on prime time news presentations or in
newspapers.
One story talked about how when the news gets it wrong and
puts forward false claims that jeopardise your reputation, you can appeal to
the Australian Communications and Media Authority or ACMA for regulation.
Sure, the example they used was a kid wrongly accused of
picking his nose, but they got the point across... and I guess the example
would be suitable for the audience of ages 8 to 13 that they were expecting.
Basically, I didn't even know that besides the weather, the
news could actually get it WRONG. Let alone there was a service that victims of
poor reporting could access. I put on my Holmes cap and decided to have a bit
of a sleuth once Backyard Science came on.
It's the ACMA's duty to regulate online, broadcast and
mobile content as well as enforcing the anti-spam law... which frankly has
backfired in the case of my suspended Twitter. I guess it's the thought that
counts, and overall there'd be people in a pickle if the ACMA wasn't there to
crackdown on dodgy news.
The News of the World incident is a major example of the
success of this service, but unlike Uncle Rupert I'm going to tread very
lightly when I start reporting. I freak out when people look through my phone
so I'm definitely not planning on hacking theirs... plus, I don't know any
super-computer-techy people.
For more, see http://www.acma.gov.au.