Hadley in privacy code breach

2GB's Ray Hadley has been found in breach of the privacy provisions code of practice.

The ACMA Chairman, Chris Chapman said…

"The broadcast of a person’s name and address without consent is a breach of the privacy protections under the codes."

The breach occurred on the Ray Hadley Morning Show on November 25 last year. This is what was said…

"Um, in the meantime, um, just for the benefit of people joining me here, I notice there are two police officers outside. That would relate to a lunatic who has been writing for about the last five years the most vile letters to myself and Alan Jones. In fact, when a member of our staff was gravely ill, that fellow wrote a letter, that I got a copy of, saying ‘I hope you die’. That’s the sort of person we’re dealing with. Now, his name is [X], he lives on [road] at [suburb]. When I came downstairs they told me he’d been abusing Alan from outside the broadcast, so what I did, I walked outside, ‘Officer, g’day, nice to see you both’. I walked outside and told Mr [X] that I’d stick his head up his bum and use him as a jug handle unless he went. So if you’d like to take that statement down I’d be more than happy to supply it and write underneath, ‘Mr [X] belongs in a mental institution, he’s a vile character and I have the documents at work where he’s wished people who’ve been ill who have worked for us would die. The most vile character and he’s mentally ill. So officers, you’ve got a lot more things to do than worry about that bloke, I can assure you."

2GB will now meet with all of their presenters and producers to discuss the breach and will use it as an example in its future training sessions.

The ACMA also found that 2GB failed to comply with the codes’ complaint-handling requirements. They say "complaints-handling procedures at the station have been improved following a recent review of processes conducted since the broadcast."

If you want to read the full report, you can here