Broadcaster Jones to pay $10,000 over 'offensive' comments
Broadcaster Alan Jones has been ordered to pay a Muslim community leader $10,000 over a radio segment that was found to be ‘gratuitously insulting and offensive’ to Lebanese men.
The segment has been at the centre of a nine-year legal battle between Mr Jones and Muslim community leader Keysar Trad.
The Civil and Administrative Tribunal found Mr Jones' comments broadcast on 2GB in April, 2005 ‘portrayed Lebanese males as criminals and... as posing a threat to the Australian community’, Fairfax reports.
Mr Trad complained of racial vilification over the comments, which the tribunal upheld.
Mr Jones had argued the comments were a letter from a listener.
The tribunal found that the opinions in the letter were not relevant to any argument about the public interest, that Jones used ‘contemptuous and hateful language’ and the broadcast was ‘gratuitously insulting and offensive to Lebanese males’.
"The words, in context, urged or stimulated listeners to hatred or, at least, serious contempt of Lebanese males. In our view, there can be no doubt that it would have reached the mind of the audience as something which had that effect,” the tribunal found.
Jones and Harbour Radio, which holds the radio licence for 2GB, were ordered to pay the damages, along with part of Mr Trad's legal costs.
Harbour Radio has also been ordered to review its policies in preventing racial vilification.
The case had been in and out of court over the past nine years, with Jones originally ordered to pay $10,000 to Mr Trad before he launched two bids to overturn the decision.
After a successful appeal, Trad was ordered to repay Mr Jones the $10,000 and the matter was sent back to the tribunal before the most recent decision was finalised.
Morning news break – December 29
