Milk company sues the ABC over The Checkout
http://www.smh.com.au/business/media...10-ghkzjp.html
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Milk company sues the ABC over The Checkout
http://www.smh.com.au/business/media...10-ghkzjp.html
that'll go down like a cup of cold sickQuote:
Executive producer of The Checkout, Julian Morrow, said: "Even just hearing about the legal action gives me a feeling of discomfort in my tummy, and I can't say if drinking A2 Milk would help with that at all."
This will be great provide A2M win the case. Great publicity assuming as a potential remedy A2 also request a public apology
Seems like the defence argument is going to pretty much be that it's a comedy show and everyone who watches it knows it's not to be taken entirely literally and seriously. But I can't see how that would work, especially when they put the show up on the Net where it would be Googled and viewed by people all round the world, many of whom will take it as serious investigative journalism and will assume it's all true unless the company objects and the producers are forced to retract and apologise.
Unfortunately the company seemed not to handle the situation very well at the time, and it's not clear how much they were the victims of an ambush and unfair tactics. The issue in defemation terms is not simply whether the programme was "balanced". To achieve "balance" you only have to include the company's denial, which leaves viewers thinking "well the company would deny it wouldn't they", and the programme kind of did this. What was really needed was for the programme to make clear at the end of the day that the allegations against a2MC were wrong.
Another problem is that however strong a case you have, there's no certainty. Judges sometimes go mad in cases like this. It's not clear if this one will go before a jury, which could be even worse if the jurors happen to think it was all just a hilarious joke and the victim was an upstart NZ company that's interfering in the Australian dairy market so it deserves what's come.
Still, I do believe taking the case to court is the right thing to do. It'll give the company a chance to bring the truth out in the course of evidence.
I wonder if the programme's legal costs and any damages awarded will be picked up by Dairy Australia. That wouldn't surprise me one bit. It did seem to me that DA's helpful hand was fairly obvious in the programme itself.
I'm a little puzzled that a2MC is pursuing the ABC under Australia's Consumer Protection Law rather than suing for defamation, especially as the Consumer Protection Law specifically provides the ABC with a carte blanche exemption from being pursued in relation to programmes it has broadcast in the normal course of programme broadcasting. The Consumer Protection Law does not provide for penalties, as far as I can see.
It's not clear why the ABC is granted such an exemption allowing it to mislead and deceive the public, with no comeback by parties that are adversely affected or by the public that has been misled or deceived.
But this exemption does not protect the ABC with regard to actions it has taken that are not broadcasting per se. In this case it is argued that the ABC went further by promoting the offending programme via the Internet.
Its all rather esoteric, but here are the relevant provisions:
18 Misleading or deceptive conduct
(1) A person must not, in trade or commerce, engage in conduct that is misleading or deceptive or is likely to mislead or deceive.
...
19 Application of this Part to information providers
(1) This Part does not apply to a publication of matter by an information provider if ...
(b) the information provider is the Australian Broadcasting Corporation ... (and) the publication was by way of a radio or television broadcast by the information provider.
At least the the program achieving its aim - Last year, Mr Morrow said: "One of our aims for this series is to get a legal action in every single one of the states and territories in Australia. It seems like a crazy dream, but I believe we can achieve it."
Good one
I never cease to be amazed at the conservative stance of business on issues like this.
What they should be doing is making a spoof video on YouTube with a couple of other companies who are also sueing "The Checkout" and take the absolute Pi$$ out of that program .... make comments like watching "the Checkout" will cause your piles to spasm and bring on early dementia from cynical attitudes.
Of course that'll never happen, but God it would funny if business behaved more like that and bought the bloody media back down to earth. Frank Zappa's specific quote re rock journalists now applies to all journalists/media: "Rock journalism is people who can't write, interviewing people who can't talk, for people who can't read".
The expression "let sleeping dogs lie" would have been a better reaction by a2mc IMO. I read the accusation by a2mc to ABC TV and the letter sent back by the program. The fact is that there is plenty of anecdotal evidence supporting the proposition but no definitive scientific evidence. In law they will rely on scientific evidence and fact. Not a good move. In fact if the courts support the view that the program has not legally breached advertising standards then a2mc will take a big hit. Big risk.