Guidance Note
Credits
Issued: 11 April 2011
Status of Guidance Note
This Guidance Note, authorised by the Managing Director, is provided to assist
interpretation of the Editorial Policies to which the Guidance Note relates. Guidance
notes provide advice to assist in the interpretation of the Editorial Policies, which
contain the standards enforceable under the ABC’s internal management processes
and under the ABC’s complaints handling procedures.
It is expected that staff will normally act in accordance with the advice contained in
Guidance Notes. In a given situation there may be good reasons to depart from the
advice. This is permissible so long as the standards of the Editorial Policies are
met. In such situations, the matter should ordinarily be referred upwards. Any
mandatory referrals specified in Guidance Notes must be complied with.
Key Editorial Standards
Excerpts of key editorial standards relevant to this Guidance Note are set out
below. Other editorial standards may also be relevant, depending on the specific
circumstances applying in each case.
12 Commercial references
12.1 References to trade names, brand names and logos may be made
provided that:
a
the references are editorially relevant in the context; and
b
the ABC’s editorial independence or integrity is not undermined.
13 External funding and relationships
13.5 Free or discounted products, services or facilities may be accepted to support
the creation of content provided that:
a
there is no obligation imposed on or accepted by the ABC to structure
or present any matter with a particular editorial perspective;
b
prior approval is obtained from an appropriately senior ABC person
designated for the purpose;
c
the independence and integrity of the ABC are fully protected; and
d
accurate records are kept of what is accepted.
13.6 Any credits acknowledging creative, managerial and financial contributions
must be editorially justified and not unduly prominent.
13.7 Ensure appropriate disclosure of any external funding arrangement, and any
acceptance of free or discounted products, services or facilities, where the
arrangement or acceptance, if it were not disclosed but later became public,
may reasonably be perceived to distort the editorial content or otherwise
undermine the ABC’s independence or integrity.
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Mandatory referral
In Television, credit sequences should be referred for approval to an appropriately
senior ABC person designated for the purpose.
In Radio, on-air or online disclosure in relation to free and discounted goods or
services including travel and accommodation must be referred for approval to an
appropriately senior ABC Radio person designated for the purpose. Disclosure
should be appropriate to the content to which it relates, and sufficiently detailed
to enable the audience to adequately evaluate the content in all the relevant
circumstances.
Scope of this guidance note
This Guidance Note relates to content credits, including information about crediting
external funding sources and co-production partners. In addition it is also relevant
when the producer of a particular product or service has received products or
services.
Queries about the specific form or style of the ABC logo should be referred to
Divisional marketing units; while queries about the use of the ABC name, logos
or trademarks should be referred to Divisional policy/governance units.
Introduction
The role of credits is to acknowledge significant creative, managerial and financial
contributors to content as well as those who have given other special assistance.
Ensuring the ABC’s independence and integrity is paramount. Credits or
acknowledgements must not be given in return for any payment, reduced fee,
benefit or any other advantage. The ABC will not broadcast any credit which
appears to be an advertisement or contains elements which could damage the
reputation, independence or integrity of the content and the ABC.
Credits or some form of disclosure must always be used where the audience’s
interpretation of the content being presented might be altered without the proper
acknowledgement of a creative, financial or other contribution.
Different approaches to crediting are taken within the ABC. For content produced in
Television and Innovation it is standard production industry practice to provide a
written or logo credit to key contributors.
News generally does not run credits on daily programs. For daily current affairs
programs, News may acknowledge the program team at the end of the final program
for the week. Weekly programs may run credits for the program team.
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In Radio credits are used less frequently as verbal credits can give greater
prominence than intended or warranted than text credits appearing on television
or online. Their broadcast is a matter of editorial judgement. The audience is the
primary consideration when deciding whether or not to broadcast credits on Radio.
Credits for creative contributions from freelancers, guest presenters, artists and
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Guidance Note: Credits
speakers are generally part of regular radio presentation practice and incorporated
within introductions and back announcements. Individual staff credits in Radio
should be avoided wherever possible.
ABC Commercial, in its own content, adheres to the standard industry practice for
crediting key contributors, according to the specific sector relevant for the product
or service.
Acquisitions
The ABC has only limited ability to alter the content of acquisitions, including credit
sequences, for example if the credits include an advertisement or a reference to a
highly commercialised website that carries advertising. Standard practice for audiovisual content is, where possible, to edit out presentation credits e.g. ‘National
Geographic presents…’ and to end the closing credit sequence at the point of the
copyright notice.
In the rare circumstance that audio acquired content contains credits, they should
be broadcast unedited.
News will acknowledge in credits any co-production arrangements for a program,
or if the program is an acquisition from another broadcaster or an external producer.
Community service announcements
Community service announcements must not be included within a credit sequence.
This includes references to an organisation’s name, contact details, website urls or
campaign slogans.
Copyright notices
ABC copyright is vested in the Corporation not in particular production units, genres
or State/Territory centres. For ABC internal productions, only the following copyright
notice should be used:
© Australian Broadcasting Corporation
For co-productions, the same copyright notice should be used in conjunction with
the notices of other copyright holders as per contractual arrangements.
Free and discounted products, services or facilities
Credits cannot be offered to a commercial organisation as a negotiation point i.e.
in exchange for the provision of free or discounted products, services or facilities.
However, in order to be transparent suppliers of free or discounted products,
services or facilities should be acknowledged in the form of a disclosure.
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In Television and Innovation the following text acknowledgement is used: ‘The
[insert ABC or name of production company] acknowledges the free /discounted
supply of [insert product or service] by [insert supplier].’
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For ABC productions, e.g. Poh’s Kitchen – ‘The ABC acknowledges
free or discounted services from the following suppliers: AEG - Electrolux,
Miele, Scanpan’.
For co-productions, e.g. East of Everything – ‘Twenty 20 acknowledges the
discounted supply of computers by Apple’.
Similar acknowledgements are used for relevant ABC Commercial products
and services.
In Radio credits for financial contributions should be considered within introductions
and announcements as a form of disclosure to provide the audience with all relevant
information by which they can fairly assess the content being presented.
In News suppliers of free or discounted products, services or facilities should
be credited.
Logo credits
The inclusion of logos in closing credits of audio-visual content and on websites
is highly restricted. In Television approvals are given for the following: the ABC,
co-production partners, independent production companies, appropriate cultural
agencies and organisations whose core business is the creation of Australian
screen content. This is a recognised form of acknowledgement in the content
production industry.
Appropriate cultural agencies may include federal and state film funding agencies,
federal or state arts funding agencies or statutory authorities.
Logos which also function to promote or advertise a product or service or form part
of an advertising campaign will not be approved. Examples include ‘Lotteries West’
(who also operate a screen industry fund) and state government tourism logos such
as the Victorian Government’s ‘Victoria: The place to be’ logo.
An ABC logo must be included in all production credits where a co-production or
independent production company’s logo is included. Production company logos
should not be more prominent than the ABC logo.
In addition to the Television list above and subject to divisional approval, online
production credits in Radio, Innovation and News may also include logo credits
for some private or commercial organisations. These acknowledgements may
include links.
Text credits and acknowledgements
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Most contributors to audio-visual content and websites are credited in text form only.
Approval for inclusion of a logo in credits is highly restricted – see Logo credits.
The contributors noted below are credited in the following ways –
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Private funders, non-film government authorities, charities, foundations:
‘Financed with the assistance of…’
e.g. NAIDOC Awards: ‘Financed with the assistance of the Department of
Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs.’
Third party funders who have contributed to the funding provided by a
government authority:
‘The [insert government authority] acknowledges the financial assistance
of the [insert third party funder]’
e.g. The Nelson Meers Foundation: ‘The National Portrait Gallery
acknowledges the financial assistance of the Nelson Meers Foundation.’
Sponsors of a public performance may be also acknowledged in credits. The credit
must make clear that the sponsorship relates solely to the performance itself and not
the broadcast.
Thank you credits
Thank you credits are given to those who have given ‘other special assistance’ to a
production and are to be approved by the relevant editorial manager. The ABC,
co-producer, or independent producer provides a list of organisations, companies
and/or individuals who have assisted in a production under the title, ‘Thanks to…’.
Thank you credits for individuals, government, charities or not for profit
organisations are generally acceptable. All credits thanking a commercial
organisation should be upward referred to an appropriately senior ABC person
designated for the purpose.
In some instances, editorial managers may decide that an organisation or individual
has provided high-level assistance to a production without which the program could
not have been made. In these special circumstances, the following credit may be
offered -‘Filmed with the assistance of…’
e.g. ‘Gallipoli Submarine - Filmed with the assistance of the Submarine
Institute of Australia and AE2 Commemorative Foundation Ltd.’
In Television a thank you credit is not appropriate for those who have provided free
or discounted services. These must be given in the form of disclosure - see Free &
discounted products, services or facilities.
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Website urls
ABC web addresses (such as abc.net.au) are referenced in content credits.
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Use of non-ABC web addresses in Television credits must have the approval of an
appropriately senior ABC person designated for the purpose within the responsible
Division. Non-ABC web addresses likely to gain approval for inclusion in credit
sequences may include a production company, broadcaster or a distributor that has
provided funding. Website addresses must not be in the form of an advertisement
or commercial slogan.
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