Some broadcasters at the ABC are not happy with a decision by management to dramatically wind back transcriptions of news and current affairs programs. The transcripts of AM, The World Today, PM, 7.30 and Lateline are a major journalistic source at Aunty and beyond, and are also widely used by politicians, researchers and the public.

But a note from the head of current affairs, Bruce Belsham, seen by Weekly Beast, says only one key interview from each radio program will be transcribed. “From Monday 8th August there is a change to our transcription set-up and from then only the key interviews from our programs will be transcribed,” the note said.

Sunday’s Insiders program will no longer be transcribed – except for the political interview which will be posted the following day, Monday. Hardest hit will be radio current affairs which will have to chose only one from each program. Lateline and 7.30 will still be transcribed but not until the following day.

“As audience needs have changed with the shift to mobile consumption, and towards key ABC digital properties such as abc.net.au/news and apps, the need for this focus on transcripts has reduced, and the need for digital staff to create bespoke versions of stories and program items in text, video and audio formats is increasing,” the note said.

Belsham appears to be anticipating some dramas already: “Even if you think your story is sensational and should be transcribed DON’T hassle the transcriber. Make your point to your EP [executive producer] who will decide what gets done and what doesn’t.”

Gold medal for ‘content not available’ goes to ...

The International Olympic Committee has some pretty strict rules when it comes to broadcasting rights. That may be why you’ve occasionally seen either a blank screen or still pictures when watching news about the Rio Olympics on TV or online. “This content is not available” is becoming a frequent refrain.

Seven, of course, has the exclusive rights to the Rio Games and while the deal is delivering free broadcast television on Seven’s own channels it means non-rights holders are very restricted in what they can show. (As well as TV rights, Seven has radio, online and mobile, and social media rights.) “No other organisation may transmit within Australia sound or images of any Olympic event, including training venues, sporting action, the opening ceremony, the closing ceremony and medal ceremonies, mixed zones, interviews or other activities which occur at Olympic venues, including the Olympic park common domain, Olympic village and Village Square, except as permitted by these news access Rrles, as set out below.”

The news access or fair use rules mean that news organisations can use short video clips a few times a day only and for a limited window. For example, TV networks such as Nine and ABC can show no more than three minutes of Olympics vision in each of the three main bulletins. So not in updates or promos or breaking news or breakfast shows.

News channels such as ABCNews 24 or Sky News are allowed to show only 1.5 minutes of Olympic video six times a day. Seven has the rights to the games of the XXXI Olympiad in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, the XXIII Olympic winter games in PyeongChang in 2018 and the games of the XXXII Olympiad in Tokyo in 2020.

Turbo-charged promo

The promo for A Current Affair last week was so tantalising. “Inside this jail is a Channel Seven star who’s been filming prime time shows for the network for several years now,” the reporter on Channel Nine said. Who could it be inside the Brisbane correctional centre? Seven’s brekky stars David Koch or Samantha Armytage? Well no. ACA stretched the meaning of star. The chap behind bars was Outback Truckers driver Peter “Turbo” Teatoff.

Time will tell on Bill Leak

It took six months for the Australian Press Council to find a Daily Telegraph report “The silence of the dead” on the trade union royal commission was misleading and unfair to the Labor leader, Bill Shorten, so we may not hear from the media watch dog on the Bill Leak cartoon – described by the Indigenous affairs minister, Nigel Scullion, as “particularly tasteless” – until the end of the year.

But the council confirmed to Weekly Beast that it had received complaints and an investigation is being considered by the complaints team. It is not without precedent for the APC to judge a cartoon. The council was asked to judge another cartoon which was accused of racism recently, this one published in the Sydney Morning Herald with an opinion piece on the conflict in Gaza by Mike Carlton.

“The council considered the cartoon’s linkage between the Jewish faith and the Israeli rocket attacks on Gaza was reasonably likely to cause great offence to many readers,” the adjudication said. “A linkage with Israeli nationality might have been justifiable in the public interest, despite being likely to cause offence. But the same cannot be said of the implied linkage with the Jewish faith that arose from inclusion of the kippah and the Star of David.”

But this case was different because the SMH had already published an extensive apology and removed the cartoon by Glen Le Lievre from online. The Australian, however, has defended Leak’s cartoon.

‘Australia’s shame’ too shameful for Twitter

Twitter has apologised for suspending the official account for ABC News on Friday on suspicion of child abuse images. An eager safety operative in the US spotted the image of a boy’s naked bottom and immediately suspended the @abcnews account – which has 1.1 million followers – without contacting the ABC. The “offensive” content was a video clip of the 4 Corners program “Australia’s shame” which contained CCTV footage of a boy being mistreated in a Northern Territory juvenile detention centre.

Sources told Weekly Beast the Australian arm of Twitter then stepped in and explained the context of the video and the account was reinstated after about an hour. Twitter is reviewing its procedures in relation to Australian news accounts.

It was the second time last week that 4 Corners had been messed about by social media. Again without notice, Facebook removed videos from 4 Corners program but reinstated them after the ABC agreed to blur the footage of the boy’s bare bottom. Executive producer Sally Neighbour was very frustrated by Facebook’s decision to take the ABC news videos down after they already had 5m views.

“ABC News gave careful consideration to publishing these images, which are evidence of the mistreatment of a child and not in any way gratuitous, and we believe their publication is strongly in the public interest,” she said. “We have expressed our concerns to Facebook about their handling of this matter.”