Anyone who has worked in radio knows that the sound that comes out of the speakers is controlled by the Program Director, not the on-air presenter.
In any commercial radio station the presenter is there to abide by the format set by the program director and the philosophy set by the board.If that tells us anything, it tells us that the whole Kyle Sandilands mess does not end with Kyle Sandilands.
Austereo says it is now reviewing its programming policy. Good! The company needs to take a good, hard look at the people who make those decisions.
Every radio station has a responsibility to its listeners and it is in the public interest that infringement of that responsibility is taken seriously at all levels, not just at the pointy end that the audience gets to hear.
The liability of a radio station is directly with the license holder.
A public dressing down of Kyle Sandilands, in fact the firing of Kyle Sandilands from the network, will not eliminate the core problem if that is where the finger pointing stops.
Austereo now has a responsibility to the general public to weed out the rot that allowed the Kylie stunt to go as far as it did in the first place.
It would be irresponsible of any broadcast company to lay blame solely with presenter in a case such as this.
The very nature of how a minor was put to air now needs to be questioned.
Questioning a 14-year old girl about sexual practices live on air by a couple of paid performers is mental child abuse. Justifying the incident by saying the girl was done a favour because she is finally getting counselling is arrogance.
Austereo says it is reviewing its programming policy. The company needs to take this seriously. It cannot get away with this by using Kyle as a scapegoat and it cannot justify it post action simply by writing a cheque for a counsellor.
David Mott at Channel 10 acted responsibly and fast. He removed Sandilands from Australian Idol. "Australian Idol is very much a family program and it’s appeal is across the board,’’ he said in a statement. ‘‘We’d like to think that all families can enjoy the program in front of the TV.’’
Austereo needs to follow Mott’s lead. It is time to take responsibility.
Music-news.com
