by: Nic Christensen and Paige Taylor From: The Australian December 28, 2011 12:00AM
THE Immigration Department has successfully lobbied to impose new restrictions on TV networks showing images of asylum-seekers arriving by boat and has called on the media watchdog to vigorously pursue broadcasters who breach the new regime.
The restrictions, announced last week in the 2011 Australian Communications and Media Authority privacy guidelines for broadcasters, come after the department successfully called on ACMA in a written submission to help it prevent the media from using images of asylum-seekers and those held within immigration detention to “protect the privacy of these vulnerable clients”.
Under the new privacy guidelines, broadcast media will be subject to the protection of “seclusion”, effectively guarding a person’s privacy from being invaded—even if they are in a public place. The new rules would potentially prevent broadcast media from showing images of asylum-seekers arriving by boat.
