Surprise! Turns Out That Racist ‘Sunrise’ Segment Broke A Whole Bunch Of Rules

The Australian Communications and Media Authority has ruled that Channel Seven breached the authority’s guidelines by airing that “factually inaccurate” Sunrise segment.

The ruling came after viewers complained about Sunrise’s March segment, which began with the question: “Should WHITE families be allowed to adopt abused Aboriginal children?”

One panellist called for a policy similar to the White Australia movement that created the Stolen Generations.

“Just like the first Stolen Generations,” said shock jock Prue MacSween, “where a lot of children were taken because it was for their well-being, we need to do it again, perhaps.”

The two others on screen — host Samantha Armytage and radio personality Ben Davis — agreed with MacSween.

The ACMA decision found that the Sunrise segment was in breach of two parts of the code: one part about accuracy and fairness and another about material that provokes “serious contempt” for an ethnic group.

“Broadcasters can, of course, discuss matters of public interest, including extremely sensitive topics such as child abuse in Indigenous communities,” said ACMA chair Nerida O’Loughlin. “However, such matters should be discussed with care, with editorial framing to ensure compliance with the code.”

In the decision, ACMA called out Sunrise’s “strong negative statements”. The 34-page decision expanded that one of the main problems was “sweeping references to a ‘generation’ of young Indigenous children being abused and ‘that culture’ being a culture of abuse, hurt and damage.”

While Sunrise did later apologise for the segment, ACMA found that they were wrong not to acknowledge the inaccuracy of their broadcast.

ACMA found that Channel Seven had not produced seriously distressing or seriously offensive material, however. So there’s that.