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Solo 3DR Drones Set To Be Snubbed By Mass CE Retailers Following Harvey Norman Intervention

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Are Solo 3DR drones about to fly into headwind and are Monster products set to get monstered by Australian retailers following the intervention of Harvey Norman?

Last week we exclusively revealed that Arisit, a Company that is majority owned by Harvey Norman had snared the rights to the Solo 3DR drone and Monster products, a move that some retailers claim could be the death of the brands outside of Harvey Norman stores. 

Several major retailers surveyed by ChannelNews claim that they will not stock either brand due to their association with the mass retailer.

They claim that Harvey Norman will have a pricing and supply advantage.

Currently the Solo 3DR Drone is being sold via specialist camera retailers with the CameraHouse chain also looking to stock the drone. Prior to the brand moving from Convoy International to Arisit, Convoy was in discussions with JB Hi Fi about stocking the drone. 

“This will not now happen” said a JB Hi Fi insider. 

Another major retailer who competes with Harvey Norman said “Gerry Harvey is not stupid, he has a margin and supply advantage with these brands and there are risks associated in stocking a brand that is distributed by a competitor. Consumer electronic products are very different from appliances and air conditioners”. 

Adam Mills the new Sales + Marketing Manager for the two brands told ChannelNews that “there are no risks”.

Mills who worked at Convoy for 4 years said “Arisit has been distributing brands for several years across multiple retailers. There was always the potential of other retailers forming their own opinions but if you look at the history of Arisit it speaks for itself. We knew that there was always the perception that we would favour Harvey Norman”.

Distribution via Arisit will take place from March 14th.

Arisit managing director, Simon Taylor said recently that these new brands represent the company’s first foray into the consumer technology market.

“Monster and 3DR will become the sixth and seventh brands in our portfolio. All contracts have been signed and we will be selling these from the 14th of March in Australia and New Zealand,” he said.

“We understand there is still some confusion about the drone’s market and we expect that there will eventually be a small fee required for registration. We are very excited about the 3DR brand as the future of drones is massive in the Australian market. Along with the Monster cable and surge protection products, we look forward to increasing the distribution of both brands over the coming months.”


Download Here. 

A well bred notebook

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The ASUS W3000A is a value for money notebook. The big advantage is that it is made by a pedigree notebook company who just happen to make notebooks for Sony, Apple and Dell.

Before we begin the review proper, it’s bearing in mind that just a handful of Taiwanese outfits are responsible for the vast majority of the world’s notebook PC production, including those sold by virtually all the big brand PC companies. Asus, for instance, produces some of the lushest laptops on the market for Sony and Apple, among others.

So, it’s not awfully surprising to see that elements of the Sony Vaio design vibe, feature set and top-notch build quality have leaked into this new mid-sized portable.

The ASUS W3000A
might be a dead ringer for Sony’s S-series from some angles, but it’s more than just a rip-off: it’s a great looking system in its own right. Attention to detail abounds, from the brushed alloy trackpad buttons and magnetic screen latch to the blue, back-lit power button integrated into the screen hinge. There are real, practical benefits, too, including a row of handy quick-set buttons for controlling functionality such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity and system performance and turning the trackpad on and off. And if you don’t jive with the white and silver colour scheme (we reckon it works well), it’s also available in a more sober-suited (and Sony-esque) grey and black combo.


Form factor-wise, the W3000A pips the S-Series by the best part of inch in terms of screen diagonal – 13.3 inches versus 14. Despite that, this remains an eminently portable system that will slip easily into most shoulder bags. As for the luscious widescreen LCD display itself, it sports an XBlack-aping glossy screen surface and boasts rich, vivid colours and bags of brightness. Twist our arms and we’ll concede that it can’t quite compete in terms of viewing angles and contrast with the best wet-look screens from Sony and Toshiba.

Interestingly, the W3000 is available with both the original 855 Centrino chipset and its new-fangled 915 successor. The ‘A’ model tested here is the latter, and so benefits from a faster 533MHz CPU bus and dual channel memory support among other improvements. Enough, in fact, for this 1.73GHz Pentium-M equipped system to be just capable of passing our ultra high bit rate HD WMV9 video decode. Gamers, on the other hand, should look elsewhere. The integrated Intel GMA 900 graphics delivers only the most basic 3D gaming power (the ‘N’ spec W3000 based on the 855 chipset offers the far superior ATI Radeon Mobility 9700).

Otherwise, there’s no nasty surprises from the reasonable, if not exactly earth shattering all-round specification which includes a dual layer DVD burner, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Intel HD audio and gigabit LAN. Style, portability and desirability is what this notebook is all about. It delivers, and for an impressive price.

Processor: Intel Pentium M 1.73GHz (Sonoma)
L2 Cache: 2MB
Chipset: Intel 915GM
Memory: 512MB DDR 2 533 MHz
Graphics: ATI Radeon X600
Hard drive: 60GB 4200 RPM
Optical Drive: Combo drive
No of USB ports: 3
Card Reader: 3-in-one, SD/MMC, Memory Stick
FireWire: Yes, IEEE1394a
Wireless: Infrared, 802.11g Wireless LAN & Bluetooth

 

Reccomended Retail $1892.00

 

EXCLUSIVE:Smokin Gun Email Could Bring Down Dick Smith Executives

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Australian Securities and Investment Commission are investigating whether a $2M underpayment of Dick Smith staff may have been deliberately hidden by senior executives of Dick Smith who were also responsible for the $400M collapse of the consumer electronics retailer.

The smoking gun that could bring down former executives of Dick Smith is an email between former chief financial officer Michael Potts and former CEO Nick Aboud, the email was discovered when Ferrier Hodgson staff went searching through an email database. 

According to Ferrier Hodgson sources, working for the receivers, who are currently investigating the books of Dick Smith, both Potts and Nick Aboud have been questioned about the email, which indicates that certain Dick Smith executives were aware of the discrepancies, that dated back to Woolworths’ ownership of the electronics chain before the business was bought by private equity form Anchorage Capital and sold to investors through a $520 million public float.

The issue for ASIC investigators is why the discrepancies were not disclosed in any financial filings for Dick Smith and why the market was not informed of the discrepancies when discovered by Dick Smith management. 

Yesterday Ferrier Hodgson announced that Michael Potts employment with Dick Smith had been terminated. 

Aboud who has already been questioned by Australian Securities and Investment Commission investigators is also set to be questioned by the Australian Tax Office. 

ChannelNews understands that certain allegations have been put to Aboud and that as a result of certain questions Aboud has sought, time via his solicitors, to prepare documentation for investigators. 

We understand that a meeting between ASIC and ATO investigators has been delayed until April. 

Yesterday Ferrier Hodgson chose to selectively reveal to the Australian that 3,200 current and former staff may be owed as much as $2 million in entitlements, dating back as far as 2010 when the chain was under the control of Woolworths.

They made no mention of the smoking gun email.

According to Ferrier Hodgson partner James Stewart who has not returned calls to ChannelNews staff may have missed out on their full leave loading as a result of the “incorrect application of the relevant industrial award.”
Woolworths have said that they are now conducting their own analysis of payments to staff, to ensure that other miscalculation have incurred anywhere else across its business.

At this stage ASIC hasn’t initiated a formal investigation however they are looking at the float prospectus as well as Dick Smith’s most recent audited full year financial results, which were signed off by Deloitte.
Ferrier Hodgson has referred the matter to the Fair Work Ombudsman as well as the Shop.

JB Hi-Fi Blitz The Market

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Consumer electronic retailer has blitzed the market by reporting that first-half profit rose 60 percent on sales of games, computers and DVDs. They are valso the the best performing retailer in Australia’s benchmark index the past year.

Consumer electronic retailer has blitzed the market  by reporting that first-half profit rose 60 percent on sales of games, computers and DVDs. They are valso the the best performing retailer in Australia’s benchmark index the past year.

The Company that last month aquired the Digital Home web site from 4Square Media publishers of the SmartHouse web site and magazine reported that income rose to $41.9 million or 39 cents a share, in the six months ended Dec. 31 from $26.8 million, or 25 cents, a year earlier, Melbourne-based JB Hi-Fi said in a statement. Earnings were expected to rise to $40 million, according to the median estimate of five analysts Bloomberg News surveyed by telephone and e-mail.

Adding computers and iPods has helped bolster growth at JB Hi-Fi as Chief Executive Officer Richard Uechtritz seeks to limit the company’s dependence on DVD and music CD sales. He expanded into New Zealand last year with the 11-store Hill & Stewart chain.

“Our unique and technology focused retail model continues to perform strongly.,” Uechtritz said in the statement.  JB Hi-Fi said annual profit will rise as much as 49 percent to between A$57 million and A$60 million.

First-half sales rose 50 percent to A$989 million, with annual revenue forecast to rise 40 percent to A$1.8 billion. JB Hi-Fi shares fell 74 cents, or 5.9 percent, to A$11.90 at 10:11 a.m. in Sydney. The stock has risen seven-fold since being sold to the public in October 2003 at A$1.80 a share. It has been Australia’s best performing retail stock since joining the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index in 2004.

The company opened 15 new stores during the half, increasing its network to 104, with 5 more outlets planned before the end of June.

JB Hi-Fi is Australia’s third-largest computer retailer behind Harvey Norman Holdings Ltd. and the Dick Smith unit of Woolworths Ltd., Australia’s biggest retailer

Marketing Management Shake Up At Samsung OZ

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Samsung Australia who last week parted Company with their inhouse PR manager, has announced a major restructure of their marketing communications team as the Company grapples with mixed market conditions spanning TV, IT appliances and in the communications market where the the Company is fighting a head on battle with Apple.

After only 16 months Samsung has parted Company with Jon Manning who was hired back in April 2010 to take on the role of public relations manager at the Korean Company.

 Manning who had worked on the Sony account at Hausmann Communications, has returned to work for Open Haus a division of Hausmann. 

Samsung has also appointed  two new Marketing Communications Managers – Silvia Scholle for Telecommunications and Sia Andreatidis for Home Appliances.

Scholle joins Samsung from Bayer Australia where she held the role of Senior Brand Manager, responsible for implementing strategic marketing and advertising campaigns for a range of brands including leading petcare range, Advantage Family. Prior to Bayer, Scholle was a Brand Manager at Colgate Palmolive working on oral and personal care brands.

Andreatidis joins Samsung following six years at Nestl_, with the last year and a half in the position of Senior Brand Manager for NESTLE MILO. During her time with Nestl_, Andreatidis also held the Senior Brand Manager position for NESCAFE Gold, and Brand Manager roles across the UNCLE TOBYS Nutritional Snacks brands.

 Lambro Skropidis, Head of Marketing at Samsung Electronics Australia told ChannelNews that the Company is looking to beef up their marketing because they are confident that several new products the Company is planning to launch will have wide appeal in the Australian market.

In her role, Andreatidis will be responsible for the suite of home appliances Samsung offers, including refrigeration, floorcare, laundry, cooking and air conditioning.
Scholle will manage Samsung’s portfolio of mobile devices including smartphones and tablets. Samsung’s GALAXY range of smartphones have played an integral role in the growing success of the Android operating system in Australia, now accounting for 50% of the local smartphone market.

Yet Another Senior Executive Exits Samsung OZ

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Another senior executive is leaving Samsung Australia, Evan Manolis the Head of Content & Services -IT and Mobile Divisions will officially leave the Korean Company tomorrow.

An 8 years’ veteran at Samsung Manolis worked closely with Vice President Philip Newton in the development of IP content delivery for the Companies products.

 He initially development content delivery for the Companies smart TV systems and later smartphones, tablets and wearable systems.

Manolis joins a long list of executives who have left Samsung this year. 

Also exiting the Company has been Marketing Director Arno Lenoir, Communications Manager Richard Noble and recently Brad Wright who was running the Companies consumer AV division.

Talking to ChannelNews Manolis said “I have had a great journey during the past 8 years at Samsung. We have developed some great content systems but it is time for me to move on. When I started with Samsung the Company was the number three TV provider today they are clearly in the top spot”. 

“Samsung have by far the best content delivery systems spanning wearables, smartphones tablets and TV’s and there is more to come”. 

He said he wants to take time off before deciding his next career move. 

During his time at Samsung he has been a keynote speaker at the following content conferences. 

he has been a keynote speaker at the following Conferences:
. MIDEM 2015 – Cannes France
. Connected World TV Summit 2014 – UK
. iMedia Brand Summit 2013 & 2015 – Aus
. Connected Technology 2013 – Aus
. ASTRA 2012 & 2013 – Aus
. KANZA Broadband Summit 2011 – Aus
. Australian Centre for Broadband Innovations 2011 – Aus

Sheraton Waikiki The Hotel From Hell

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COMMENT: If you’re looking for a quit vacation in Hawaii where you can soak up the noise of breaking waves from your ocean front room or breakfast in a 5 star hotel the answer is definitely not the Sheraton Waikiki.

Their web site promises an “Inspired vacation” but what you get at the Sheraton Waikiki Beach is more the “hotel from hell” where building reconstruction takes priority over guests comfort and pounding music is played night after night till the early hours of the morning thanks in part to a McDonalds Australia function.


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And there’s no escape, with breakfast served right next to the reconstruction area where hammering and jack hammering interrupts even a quiet read of the morning newspaper.

A visit to the Sheraton Waikiki web site (Click for web site) has no mention of the pounding music or the fact that for six days of the week one cannot sit on your balcony, because of noise and dust caused by a $200 million dollar reconstruction program.

What visitors are told is that the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel and Resort is a modern monument to traditional Hawaiian hospitality, perfect for families seeking Hawaii activities, romance, or weary travellers seeking a rejuvenating escape.

The first hint that you have booked into the hotel from hell comes when one is directed to a temporary check in facility. Arriving at ones oceanfront room, which Sheraton claims delivers breathtaking ocean-front views one is confronted by a building site right under the room and more noise than Pitt Street during a rush hour.

 

Ironically there was no mention by Westpac Travel and their partners the Pinpoint Travel Group that the hotel was currently undergoing a 3 year $200 million dollar makeover.

And if you are thinking of relaxing beside Sheraton’s new wet edge pool that is restricted for people 16 years and over, think again, because this pool is located right between the construction of a new themed bar and a major restaurant extension.

During the peak US Labour day weekend guests were being turned away from the pool because of a McDonalds Australia lunch with one gusts saying “Mc Donald’s and Sheraton are in the same league, both are US Companies and profits come ahead of guests who have paid thousands for a relaxing vacation”.


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Breqakfast next to a building site

A Sheraton spokesperson was not available to comment because of the Labour day weekend.  A visit to the Companies web site http://www.sheraton-waikiki.com/ makes  no mention that the hotel is undergoing a major reconstruction program and that guests will have to put up with noise caused by the construction process. 

Nor is there any mention that extremly loud night club music, that in Australia would be closed down by the police because it exceeds acceptable levels is played untill 1.00 in the morning, to the point that guests cannot sleep.

Linda Ennis of Ireland recently said of the hotel. “We Booked to stay at the Sheraton Waikiki, we are SPG Gold members and have travelled to Hawaii many times, we wanted a change and wanted to stay at a beach front hotel in Waikiki and were very excited after seeing the photo gallery on sheraton hotels website. The hotel was more expensive than other hotels we would have stayed at in waikiki but we thought it would be worth it, boy were we wrong!”

“Upon arrival at the hotel late at night after 2 days travelling from Ireland to Honolulu, My husband dropped me out front with the bags and was told by the bellman he could not park out front for 5 mins to drop the bags at the front desk for me and had to move on immediatly, i struggled to carry 3 bags up the sloped walkway which looked like a construction site to the front desk, no help was offered”.

 “I had booked a deluxe ocean view room with a lanai on a high floor for $299 a night ++ tax for 10 nights, and was checked in straight away, walking through the lobby, it was old, tired and dirty, cramped and boarded up and all i was think was OMG, i cannot stay here for 2 weeks! We got in 1 of the many elevators to our floor, and when we stepped out of the elevator made our way to our room. Its hard to explain i have stayed at hundred’s of hotels but the corridors at the Sheraton Waikiki are like trying to find your way out of a MAZE!”

 

“The room and bathroom was worse than reception, think 70’s decor, that is tired, old, and worn! I dont think i have ever stayed anywhere as bad as this! I called the front desk within a few mins of getting to the room and advised i would be checking out, this was 1am and with no where else to stay, I spoke to the Manager on duty, who said that was fine, i could check out without any penalty”.

“We went to the public phone booth in the lobby and opened the yellow pages, I called the Wyland Waikiki which is a nice boutique hotel, 1 block back from the sheraton waikiki. And made a reservation just for the night, God what a differance”.

See full comment by Ennis at: Review

 

 

Sharp Management “Inefficient” Directors + Staff To Be Axed

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Sharp is set to sack 12 of their 13 directors along with hundreds of staff, following the sale of the Company to Foxconn Technology Group.

Foxconn boss, Terry Gou has described current management and the way that the Company has been operated as “inefficient”.

This is no more evident than in Australia where sales of Sharp products have slumped, after the Company was forced to exit the TV market due to poor marketing.

Also in decline is the Companies appliance business. According to GFK data the Companies fridge business is the lowest it has ever been.

18 months ago Joe Constantino, now deputy managing director at Sharp Australia, chose to restructure the Companies appliance sales and merchandising operations. After sacking long time State distributors, sales reps and agents, he moved to hiring State Training and Merchandising Managers.


He said that the move was designed to “cut costs”.

Within months both the SA and WA “Training and Merchandising” managers resigned claiming that the job description they were given when they were hired did not “match the actual job role”.

Now Sharp Australia is back trying to hire staff.

Territory Managers are now calling on stores, on Thursday nights and Saturdays as well.

According to insiders the removal of sales reps and agents has seen a “negative result on sales volumes due a complete lack of support at the coalface”.

In New Zealand where Sharp management are seen as being far more “marketing savvy” Sharp is still in the commercial TV business and is currently rolling out a new product range.

ChannelNews understands that the Australia appliance operation will be axed with one insider in Japan telling ChannelNews that the Australian operation has been “A problem subsidiary for many years”.

Under the new global structure Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou, will succeed current Sharp CEO Kozo Takahashi after the acquisition is completed.
The Sharp board will then be shrunk to nine members, with six of them to be appointed by Foxconn.

Overnight Sharp reported a net loss of $3.14 billion for its fiscal year ended in March 2016.

The company’s operating loss has more than tripled from the previous year.

Foxconn formally signed a US$3.5 billion deal to acquire Sharp last month. Mr. Gou had long coveted Sharp’s expertise at making smartphone display panels, which could help Foxconn, also known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., further diversify from low-margin contract manufacturing.

Mr. Gou vowed last month that he would turn Sharp around within several years by giving its engineering talent, which he has described as capable of inventing breakthrough technologies, the support they need to do so.

Last night Gou said that such a turnaround wouldn’t be possible without a fresh round of job cuts after the takeover is completed. Sharp has already cut thousands of jobs in the past few years.

“Unfortunately, a close review of the company’s operations makes it clear that the level of inefficiency throughout Sharp means that a turnaround of the company can only take place if there is a reduction in costs and that comes with a very regrettable need to reduce Sharp’s workforce,” Mr. Gou said in an email that was sent to Sharp employees on Thursday.

Last month Constantino sent a letter to Australian staff and retailers claiming that by “Combining the forces of two global technology leaders, the move is designed to make Sharp a leader in the global electronics arena and a world-class company with a positive outlook. At a local level, this is great news for the Australian team as it will strengthen operations, promote growth and reaffirm its commitment to its Australian Channel partners,” Costantino said.

He failed to mention that Foxconn management are looking to close operations and subsidiaries like Australia that are losing money or failing to grow sales.

In his letter that was sent to Australian management Gou said that future growth can only can only take place” if there is a reduction in costs, and that comes with a very regrettable need to reduce Sharp’s workforce,”.

Analysts claim that even with Foxconn’s support, Sharp will find it tough competing with Chinese display makers aggressively expanding capacity, analysts said.

Sharp also lags South Korean rivals in organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology, which Apple is widely expected to adopt in future iPhones.

Gou, though, has expressed a preference for Sharp’s strength in indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) technology. “IGZO is Sharp’s pride,” said Tuan. “I’m hopeful we can cooperate with Sharp in this area.”

ChannelNews has been told that if Sharp continues to manufacture appliances and TV’s that sales in Australia will not be via a local subsidiary but via a distributor.

COMMENT:Microsoft Greed Set To Screw PC Manufacturers

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Microsoft love to dominate and they will walk over cut glass to achieve an objective.

This time the cut glass is their long time PC partners who they are openly looking to strip PC market share away from with their new all singing all dancing laptop and a new two in one Surface Pro 4.

Microsoft’s new marketing scenario goes something like this.

Firstly, they take their stuffed Windows OS model and move it to the cloud.

Then then offer Windows 10 free to Windows 8 and 7 customers, along the way they collect tens of millions of names address plus a vast amount of PC intelligence such as which PC a Windows 10 user is operating.
 
They then move to a new model of their Surface Pro offering which was their first real piece of PC hardware that competed with their PC partners. 

The excuse at the time was that their PC partners were not doing a good enough job of delivering Windows based tablets.

Now they have delivered a new notebook which has a hinge very similar to the highly successful Lenovo Yoga Pro 3.

They have given no reason this time as to why they believed they needed a notebook that will strip share from the likes of ASUS, Acer, Lenovo, Dell, HP and Toshiba.
 
Maybe it’s just plain simpler greed and a white hot desire to create major problems for the PC manufacturers who they are already screwing by charging them a licence fee to install a free version of Windows 10 software onto their PC.
 The charge is around $75 which is passed onto consumers by both manufacturers and retailers. 

Once that software is activated its Microsoft and not the PC manufacture who automatically gets information on the new PC owner. 

Microsoft is refusing to share their Windows 10 database information with their so called PC partners. 

A key component of Windows 10 I that consumers have to supply contact information because of “security updates”. 

Microsoft is also set to open their own shop in Sydney that will direct sell their new notebook, all in one PC, Windows 10 smartphones and various other Microsoft hardware, a store is also planned for Melbourne. 

So how long will it be before all those tens of millions of ASUS, Acer, Lenovo, Dell, HP and Toshiba customers are being direct mailed by Microsoft and told that they need a new Microsoft notebook, all in one PC or a new Windows smartphone. 
This is not a good situation for the PC industry which is already suffering as consumers switch their PC needs. 

What Microsoft is hoping to achieve is to take the top end of the PC market while forcing their competitors to sell cheap bottom end notebooks.

Two big PC manufacturers are already cuddling up to Microsoft in the B2B market. 

Both Dell and Hewlett-Packard recently cut deals to flog Microsoft hardware.

Microsoft is teaming up with Dell and Hewlett-Packard to sell the company’s Surface Pro tablet to businesses in a move aimed at stripping sales away from the specialist PC channel and mass retailers. 

As part of the partnership, Dell is now using its sales team to hawk the Surface Pro and related accessories directly and shortly, businesses will be able to buy Surface Pros directly from Dell’s website.

Financial details about the deal were not disclosed.

By partnering with other vendors to sell the tablet, Microsoft is trying to make a bigger push with corporate customers who in in the past have purchased their PC products from PC manufacturers partners. 

 Brian Hall, a Microsoft general manager of the Surface product line, told Bloomberg News that big clients have said Microsoft needed to offer better customer support for its Surface Pros before they would buy them in large quantities.

“We have had very large customers saying for you to be a standard for our employees, in the thousands and thousands of devices, we need you to have these capabilities,” said Hall. “They kept saying you are going to have to have support and services capabilities like Dell.”

When Microsoft first introduced the Surface tablet back in 2012, tech analysts took notice of the fact that Microsoft decided to develop its own hardware instead of leaving it to PC makers like Dell and HP. Microsoft reportedly kept plans of its Surface tablet under wraps from its hardware partners before the product was eventually launched. Today’s news seems to indicate that while Microsoft is still making Surface itself, it needs the help of the hardware vendors to make the tablet more business friendly.

No details were given on Hewlett-Packards involvement in selling Surface Pro tablets.
Already several PCC manufacturers have moved to expand sales of Chromebooks that are powered by Google software. Several Pc manufacturers have told ChannelNews that they will shortly offer Chromebooks complete with Free Google Docs, cloud based storage and expanded hardware capability. 

60 Minutes Commits Broadcasting Suicide

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The Nine Networks 60 Minutes program is in strife with the Australian Communications and Media Authority who found that they had breached regulatory safeguards for reports about suicide. in relation to a segment. They also found that Nine failed to adequately warn viewers about the potentially distressing material prior to the segment.


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The finding arose from a complaint that a segment on the program concerning the suicides of two teenagers, broadcast in April 2007, did not comply with the requirements for reports about suicide, set out in the Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice (the code).

ACMA found that the segment contained a detailed description of the suicide method, and was not straightforward in its presentation of the facts. ACMA also found that while the segment contained a warning, it did not precede the segment, as the code requires.

‘Reports about suicide pose complex issues for the media,’ said Chris Chapman, ACMA Chairman. ‘While there are legitimate public interest reasons for covering certain incidents in news and current affairs programs, extreme care must be taken to ensure that stories of this nature do not inadvertently encourage vulnerable members of the community to imitate the behaviour.

 

‘For this reason, in addition to requiring that there be a legitimate public interest reasons for broadcasting such a report, the code also imposes restrictions on the way the subject matter is treated.’

Nine has advised ACMA that it will incorporate the findings in its regular training program for staff. As well as asking Nine to ensure that any future reports about suicide comply with the code, ACMA has also recommended to Nine that relevant help line numbers be provided as part of such reports so viewers have access to support if required. ACMA will be encouraging all broadcasters to consider such an approach to ensure that vulnerable viewers are made aware of help available to them when incidents of suicide are reported.