Channel Nine's A Current Affair says it will issue an on-air apology after the media watchdog found a story it broadcast breached the codes of practice.
The story, broadcast on November 7, reported shopkeepers at Castle Mall in Sydney's northwest were being told to make way for retailers targeting the area's growing Asian population.
After the story went to air, shop owners at Castle Mall slammed the story as racist and untrue in the local paper, The Hills Shire Times.
The story aired by A Current Affair included an interview with One Nation's Pauline Hanson, who said she stood by her belief stated in her maiden speech to Parliament that Australia was being "swamped by Asians".
"This (more Asian retailers) would never be allowed in any other country," she said in the story.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) said the "All-Asian Mall" story had "inaccurate factual material", "gratuitous emphasis on ethnic origin" and was "likely to provoke intense dislike and serious contempt on the grounds of ethnic origin".
In its findings, the watchdog recommended A Current Affair remove the story from its website and issue an on-air statement acknowledging ACMA’s finding.
In response, A Current Affair has agreed to both actions, saying they will broadcast an on-air apology tonight.
ACMA Chairman Chris Chapman welcomed the move.
He says it is first time a commercial broadcaster has accepted and promised to put into action an ACMA recommendation.
"I think it is a very healthy development and I'm quietly confident that it might develop its own momentum. In which case I think it is a very healthy development in the culture of the broadcasting environment."
Listen to the full interview with Chris Chapman here:
The ACMA cannot ‘fine’ or ‘prosecute’ a broadcaster for breaching a code, or direct it to do any particular thing such as broadcast a report of the ACMA’s findings, but a recent parliamentary inquiry recommended that the body should be given a 'mid-tier' power to enforce on-air corrections.
