WIN Television has been rapped by the media watchdog after a man was able to identify his mother as the victim of a fatal car crash from the TV news report he was watching.

In a segment on a Nine News Update, footage was shown of a vehicle and part of a number plate which led to the man being able to identify the victim, who died, as his mother.

The complaint was lodged by the victim’s mother-in-law who was also watching the bulletin, which aired on August 23 last year.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) found the TV network had failed to take sufficient measures to ensure the victim could not be identified ahead of authorities breaking the news to immediate family members.

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The network was found to be in breach of clause 4.3.8 of the Commercial TV Industry Code of Practice which says licensees “must take all reasonable steps to ensure that murder or accident victims are not identified directly or, where practicable, indirectly before their immediate families are notified by the authorities”.

“The complainant asserted that they were able to identify the victim, their mother-in-law, based on the image of the partial number plate shown in the broadcast,” ACMA chairman Chris Chapman said. “This was a crucial factor in the ACMA finding a breach.”

WIN has undertaken to ensure its news team is aware of the result of the investigation and the ACMA’s reasoning, and pledged to provide further training to its news teams on how to “better handle these types of matters in future, and to include this investigation in its code training materials”.

WIN has apologised to the family.

The ACMA said that although part of the number plate was visible only fleetingly, the three visible digits, combined with the make and colour of the car, was “distinctive enough to make the vehicle recognisable to immediate family members”.

“The complainant and her husband immediately recognised the number plate and, by association, the vehicle, as belonging to their mother-in-law/mother respectively,” the ACMA report said. “The accident victim was therefore indirectly identified in this case.”

Steve Jones