Radio lie detector stunt prompts Aussie inquiry

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/media/story/2009/08/18/australia-radio-inquiry.html


Australia's media watchdog is investigating a stunt on a Sydney radio
morning show in which a 14-year-old girl was hooked up to a lie
detector and revealed she had been raped.

Breakfast announcers Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O returned to the
airwaves Tuesday at 2Day FM station after being off the air for two
weeks.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority said it's launching
an inquiry after receiving complaints from the public that they had
contacted the station but were not happy with the response.

The investigation will examine whether the program breached the
commercial code of practice.

The two offered an apology Tuesday, saying they had learned from their mistake.

Sandilands — who lost his role as a judge on Australian Idol over the
incident — said the girl's mother had gone to the station because "she
was really at her wit's end" about her daughter's behaviour.

"She was a single mom that was worried sick about her daughter and she
had nowhere else to turn," Sandilands said Monday.

The girl was strapped to a polygraph machine as her mother asked her
about her sexual history.

The teen, whose name is Rachel, broke down and divulged she had been
raped when she was 12.

Sandilands went further by asking: "Right, and is that the only sexual
experience you've had?" Co-host Jackie O'Neil then put an end to the
discussions.

The public interrogation triggered thousands of complaints, with
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd also wading into the controversy.

"This is a young girl and I am, as I think most Australians are,
really distressed at the way in which the young person has been
treated," Rudd said in early August.

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