According to Monday night’s episode of MediaWatch on ABC, ACMA is pursuing a formal complaint against radio station 6PR for publishing a video of a caning which took place in Malaysia approximately four years ago.

The 6PR website warns readers with two warning messages before they watch the corporal punishment footage, but MediaWatch host Jonathan Holmes says ‘This is on a general-use website. And there’s nothing to stop a child intrigued by the warning clicking through to this.’

Screen capture of the 6PR website, 9 March 2009.

Partial screen capture of the 6PR website, 9 March 2009.

In Holmes’ view it should never have been posted in the first place. He says ‘It’s peddling the pornography of violence.’

Whether 6PR is peddling trash or drawing listener attention to an item relevant to on-air debate is a matter of personal opinion. Whether the option for Australian adults to view the footage should be in the hands of an ACMA bureaucrat is of much greater concern.