The AFL Footy Show may face an investigation by the Australian Communications and Media Authority following Sam Newman's comments on Nine's show on Wednesday night.
The ACMA has confirmed that it has "received some initial enquiries" in relation to the Caroline Wilson-Eddie McGuire saga that has consumed Melbourne media for the past week. Those enquiries relate to the initial radio broadcast and may extend to the segment on The Footy Show in which Sam Newman and co-host Rebecca Maddern offered very different perspectives on those broadcasts and the ensuing media storm.
These enquiries "are being referred to the broadcasters in the first instance as per the complaints provisions in the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 and the relevant codes of practice," a spokeswoman for the ACMA said.
"The Authority has held preliminary discussions about these matters and will be making further inquiries."
The AFL Footy Show addressed the ongoing debate around the on-air comments led by Eddie McGuire on radio station Triple M on June 13.
While talking about an ice-dunking challenge at the MCG, which raised $2 million for motor neurone disease research, McGuire suggested a "one-person slide" starring football journalist Caroline Wilson, might raise even more money next year.
"I'll put in 10 grand straight away – make it 20," McGuire said. "And if she stays under, 50."
His fellow host took it further, with former St Kilda captain Danny Frawley saying, "I'll hold her under, Ed".
The comments have been widely condemned as condoning violence against women.
All three men have apologised, though McGuire has been criticised for his apparent reluctance to do so.
In addressing the issue on Wednesday night, Newman first suggested the affair had been blown out of proportion. "This started out as a shore break and it's developed into a fully blown tsunami, collecting flotsam and jetsam on its way, so that in the end we've got a backwater full of garbage," he said.
He then implied that the opposition of men such as himself to violence against women was so obvious as to not need stating.
"Do we have to sign up to say we are against domestic violence, and violence on women? Would we have to actually say that?"
Next, he suggested that Wilson was guilty of double standards, having brushed off similar comments from her (male) co-panellists on radio station 3AW while speaking out against those made by McGuire and co.
"Why would you cajole [sic] with the group on your station and then feign indignation about the other station five days after it happened," he asked.
Newman ended his speech with the following: "The jig's up Caro. You're becoming an embarrassment. And even if you were underwater, you'd still be talking."
It's that last comment that could yet land him, and the network, in hot water again.
Wilson told an Adelaide radio station FIVEaa Newman was a "Neanderthal" after his Footy Show outburst. "He lives in the past, he's missed the point completely with all of this as he has with so many big issues in footy in recent years.I don't think he did Eddie any good at all with his comments ... his lack of judgment as he's got older has really baffled me."
Newman certainly has form, and especially where Wilson is concerned.
In 2009, the ACMA investigated him and the program over an infamous stunt the previous year in which he brought a mannequin on stage, stapled an image of Caroline Wilson's face to its head, then proceeded to dress the dummy in a provocative manner.
In 2010, it again investigated Newman over an incident in which he compared a Malaysian man to a monkey. In both instances, Newman was found to have breached the Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice by provoking "severe ridicule" on the basis of gender in the first instance and race in the second.
As a result of those breaches, Nine entered into a series of enforceable undertakings in relation to the program.
Under these, management had to pre-approve Newman's gags and props, and the letters to be cited in the "Sam's Mailbag" segment. The network also undertook to provide anti-discrimination training for Newman and others associated with the program.
It also undertook to pay $200,000 to three charities if found guilty of further breaches during the term of the undertaking.
That undertaking expired on September 30, 2012.
If the ACMA does conduct an inquiry into Newman's comments this week it is likely to take into account some ameliorating factors that could work in his favour.
James Brayshaw was quick to say he disagreed strongly with Newman's "talking underwater" comment, while Rebecca Maddern made a statement of at least equal length to Newman's in which she argued that language does matter and the offence was serious.
The Footy Show was watched by 341,000 people in the three mainland capitals in which it was broadcast last night, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.
Nine declined to comment on the matter, or to reveal if it had received any complaints over the segment.
