The Australian broadcast regulator, the Australian Communication and Media Authority (ACMA), ruled in 2012 that journalist Tim Noonan breached the broadcast code in his report for the Sunday Night program.
The report portrayed the Suruwaha tribe as a suicide cult that condoned the murder of disabled babies.
Justice Lindsay Foster rejected an application by Channel Seven to have the ACMA findings of factual inaccuracy against the program and two others struck out.
UK advocacy group for indigenous peoples, Survival International inititated the complaint to the ACMA after Channel 7 refused to issue a correction to its report.
“Tribal peoples have been accused of ‘savagery’ since the first European colonists arrived and sought justification for the brutalities of imperialism,” said Survival’s director Stephen Corry in a statement.
“It is right and proper that this ruling has been upheld. There is no excuse for such extreme prejudice in the media today.”
ACMA found Channel Seven in breach of clause 1.9.6 of the Commercial Television Code of Practice that the report could “provoke or perpetuate intense dislike, serious contempt or severe ridicule against a person or group of persons on the grounds of age, colour, gender, national or ethnic origin, disability, race, religion or sexual preference”.
The regulator also found the program breached clause 4.3.1 by failing to present some factual material accurately.
Channel Seven has been ordered to pay costs and can appeal the decision.
