Australian broadcasters probed over use of mosque attack footage

Australia’s broadcasting watchdog is investigating whether television networks breached rules in their coverage of last week’s terrorist attack on two New Zealand mosques by using footage live-streamed by the gunman.

The probe “will focus on any content of the perpetrator-filmed, live-streamed footage of the shootings that was broadcast on Australian television” or on the broadcasters’ websites, the government-funded Australian Communications and Media Authority said in a statement on Monday.

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The attacks in the South Island city of Christchurch left 50 people dead, and the footage spread widely on the Internet - with some TV channels also running heavily edited extracts. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said she plans to take up the issue with Facebook, which said it removed 1.5 million videos of the footage within 24 hours of the shootings.

Sky Network Television, New Zealand’s biggest satellite television provider, said at the weekend it has removed Sky News Australia from its platform, citing concerns about the broadcasting of footage from the attacks.