An Australian TV news channel has been rapped by a standards watchdog for wrongly portraying an anti-smoking doctor as a representative of Big Tobacco.
The 7NEWS Spotlight show was found to have breached the Commercial TV Code of Practice by inaccurately making it appear that Dr Colin Mendelsohn was speaking on behalf of the tobacco industry.
The breach occurred in a promotion airing before an episode about vaping, titled Killers in the Mist, in which Mr Mendelsohn appeared. It was broadcast by Channel Seven Sydney Pty Limited nationally on 28 May 2023.
Mr Mendelsohn, a doctor specialising in smoking cessation, said: “The current affairs news programme 7NEWS Spotlight breached the Commercial TV Code of Practice by inaccurately portraying me as a representative of Big Tobacco.
“This was the finding of an investigation by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).”
The ACMA investigation concluded that the ordinary reasonable viewer would have incorrectly assumed Mr Mendelsohn represented the tobacco industry, based on the material presented in the broadcast.
In a statement, the watchdog said: “The ACMA investigation found the program promotions inaccurately portrayed a participant as a representative of the tobacco industry.
“The ACMA found this to be inaccurate as there was not sufficient evidence to support the assertion that the participant, a doctor specialising in smoking cessation, is a representative of the tobacco industry.”
ACMA Chair Nerida O’Loughlin said promotions for news and current affairs programs are subject to the same rules in the code of practice as the programs themselves.
“The brevity of program promotions do not exempt them from the broadcast rules,” Ms O’Loughlin said.
“Special care must be taken around the accurate portrayal of program participants, including in broadcasts of a shorter format.”
Following the ACMA’s investigation and findings, Seven has agreed to delete the promotions from its website and social media channels, and not rebroadcast them.
Seven said it had also reminded its promotions team of its obligations around accuracy under the code of practice.
