Scope of this guidance note
This guidance note sets out when and how to include warnings and audience advice, and support services or helplines. The use of warnings and support services are separate issues, however, they are often considered in relation to similar topics. The ABC has a responsibility to ensure that audience members can make informed decisions about their exposure to ABC content, and that content which may prompt audience members to seek help is accompanied by information enabling them to do so.
This note sets out general guidance for the use of warnings and support services. There are specific applications across different ABC divisions. You should ensure you are across the specific application for your division.
Key editorial standards
7.2 Where content is likely to cause harm or offence, having regard to the context, make reasonable efforts to provide information about the nature of the content through the use of classification labels or other warnings or advice.
7.5 The reporting or depiction of violence, tragedy or trauma must be handled with extreme sensitivity. Avoid causing undue distress to victims, witnesses or bereaved relatives. Be sensitive to significant cultural practices when depicting or reporting on recently deceased persons.
7.6 Where there is editorial justification for content which may lead to dangerous imitation or exacerbate serious threats to individual or public health, safety or welfare, take appropriate steps to mitigate those risks, particularly by taking care with how content is expressed or presented.
Warnings or other advice
For the purposes of standard 7.2, a “warning” includes all manner of formal and informal warnings, advice and information, from classification symbols and consumer advice to verbal and written warnings within content, and other signals of what is to come.
All domestic television programs, with the exception of news, current affairs and sporting events, receive classification labels (G, PG, M, MA15+). Different elements are classifiable: themes, violence, sex, language, drug use and nudity. The same classifications are used on ABC iView. In all ABC content, include news and current affairs, consideration must be given to the use of warnings or content information to alert the audience that content may cause harm and offence.
When to use warnings
A warning is appropriate to include on content which is likely to cause harm and offence, usually because it goes beyond audience expectations in its context. A warning may also be an appropriate means of addressing potential audience sensitivity. Warnings are recommended in situations where the depiction or treatment of sensitive or upsetting issues is done at a level of unexpected intensity for that particular program or platform.
Factors that impact the level of intensity include:
- The amount of detail
- The duration of the depiction
- Whether the material is markedly different from the surrounding content, or unlikely within content of that genre, style or platform
- Whether the depictions of or references to methods are instructional (e.g. for suicide or drug use).
Audience expectations will be determined by the type, subject and nature of the content. For example, audiences expect news programs to reflect the world as it is, which will include stories about war, natural disasters, crime and other events which may be upsetting. But if the stories include detailed depictions or descriptions beyond the ordinary expectations of that particular news program or platform they may require a warning. Similarly, a true crime podcast would not need to warn for discussing murder, but may need to warn if providing specific detail of injuries or wounds in a manner that is unexpected for the genre.
The guidance note Respecting Indigenous people and culture in ABC content addresses how to use warnings to alert Indigenous Australians to material that may contain the image, voice or name of an Indigenous Australian who has died and enable them to choose whether or not they access the material.
Summary
Consider: will the audience for this content expect to see the element that I am warning for, at this level of intensity?
Does the content provide audience members with sufficient information to avoid potentially offensive or harmful material prior to engaging with that material?
If the answer to both questions is no, then a warning is appropriate.
When warnings aren't needed
Be wary of the overuse of warnings. The effectiveness of warnings depends on their sparing use. There are some subjects which will always need to be treated sensitively. However, this does not mean we include a warning every time these topics are mentioned or discussed.
Headlines, introductions and on-screen graphics are often sufficient to indicate the subject matter, allowing the audience to make an informed choice about whether to engage.
If the depiction or discussion is general and not confronting or disturbing then it is unlikely to need a warning. The ABC has guidance notes about how to approach some of these subjects: Suicide and self-harm, Domestic Violence & Abuse and Hate Speech, Terrorism & Mass Killings.
There are also circumstances where warnings aren’t needed due to the nature of the content or platform. For example, warnings are not used before TV promos, and there are no warnings before content on the ABC homepage or ABC iview home page.
It is rare to provide warnings before video content on social media platform, because the nature of those platforms means videos need to be immediately playable for users.
For platforms/content types where warnings can’t or won’t be provided, there is a greater onus to ensure that the content is suitable for the audience to access without any warning (for example, avoid including graphic violence in a promo).
How to warn
The purpose of content information or warnings is not to tell audiences how a piece of content will make them feel or react, but to mitigate potential harms, by providing clear and specific information about what they are about to see, hear or read. This allows them to make an informed choice about whether they wish to watch, listen to or read the content.
Warnings should be clear and specific. They should avoid euphemism, and directly explain what audiences are about to be exposed to. The format of a warning may differ in different contexts: for example, particularly distressing video content posted online may require a text-based warning in its caption field, in addition to any that appear within its footage.
In news, the preferred position is to avoid generic warnings such as ‘graphic content’ or ‘distressing content’ should as they are not specific. Words like ‘distressing’ are usually unhelpful because we do not always know whether the audience will be distressed by the content. However, some content is inherently distressing and if that is the case, we can say so.
In non-news contexts, less specific warnings can still be used, particularly to avoid spelling out precisely what is in an upcoming program (for example, in a scripted drama).
In general, warnings should be short, to the point, clear and explicit about what audience members should expect. It is not compulsory include the word ‘warning’; the language of the warning should fit with the tone of the program. For example, verbal warnings may use more casual language such as “a note for our listeners” or “as a heads up, this program includes…”
Generally, warnings should occur in close proximity to the content they relate to. If a song on a music network contains coarse language requiring a warning, for example, that warning would usually be given immediately before the song. This would not be the case for a music video program on television, such as rage, where the classification symbol and consumer advice is provided at the start of the entire program rather than immediately before each song. If the graphic images of a news item require a verbal warning, that warning would usually be given immediately before the relevant material. As the wording of standard 7.2 acknowledges, this will not always be possible. In digital content on ABC web and app, warnings should be placed in the story so they are visible before the content scrolls into view. It may be appropriate to include a warning in teaser text so audience members see it before clicking though to the full story. In social media content, warnings should be tailored to the specific platform.
Examples:
- Warning: This story contains images of…(describe what the images show e.g. )
- Warning: This story contains descriptions of sexual abuse
- Warning: This story contains details of ...
- Warning: This story contains descriptions of animal abuse
- Warning: This story contains discussion of suicide.
- This program is not intended as medical advice, always consult your own doctor
- In children’s content: For some of these activities you need to ask for an adult’s permission. Do not try doing them on your own. (e.g. craft activities using scissors)
Summary
Warnings should be clear and specific about what is being warned for. They should appear in advance of and in close proximity to the content (or for digital content, before the content appears on-screen). Make sure the audience has sufficient information to make an informed choice about whether to consume the content. Do not tell the audience how to feel.
Publicising support services or helplines
While warnings and support services may be used in similar situations, there is a different set of criteria to consider when using support services.
Harm and offence standard 7.6 requires the ABC to take appropriate steps to mitigate risk, in circumstances where in circumstances where content may lead to dangerous imitation or exacerbate serious threats to individual or public health, safety or welfare. The inclusion of support services where appropriate can mitigate these risks.
Generally, support services or helplines should be included in content where issues such as mental health, suicide, domestic violence, sexual assault, addiction and gambling are a significant and explicit element in the story.
Stories which may stimulate someone to seek help should tell people where they can get assistance. These are likely to be stories that describe specific incidents and/or the impact of those issues. For example, a graphic description of the impact of domestic violence or abuse may well cause someone to think that they should seek help.
On the other hand, a story about the announcement of extra funding for education programs – or where the reference to the issue is incidental to the story – is unlikely to motivate audience members to pick up the phone.
In the Screen division, the threshold for providing support service information is if vulnerable audience members are likely to be distressed by the content and require immediate support.
The threshold for providing support service information after drama/comedy programs is necessarily different compared to factual programs. Adults viewing fictional depictions of suicide/self-harm, and exploration of mental health in fictional contexts, can generally distinguish between fact and fiction, and although the depictions may have significant emotional impact, they’re still less likely to lead to distress when compared to similarly detailed depictions/treatment in factual and documentary contexts.
Which services to use
The support services provided should be tailored to a story’s circumstances. The nature of the story and the platform will determine which, and how many, services are promoted.
National services which operate 24 hours, seven days a week, should be promoted first. Digital stories can include a range of services and should include at least one online support service. On television and radio, it is difficult to promote a range of services, so choose one or two services. Lifeline (13 11 14) and triple zero (000) may be appropriate, in addition to a specific service. Local or state-based services may be appropriate on local radio.
In the Screen division, when providing support service information after TV programs, always provide at least two, never just one. Providing one can come across as overly promotional of that particular service. It’s always better to give a range of options.
To maintain the independence and integrity of our content, avoid pointing audiences to the same organisation which is itself the subject of the program or story, e.g. if the story is about Lifeline, point to other support services afterwards, not Lifeline.
For a list of support services and helplines used by the ABC go here [internal link for ABC staff only]
Other helplines may be used, especially when they are more relevant to the story. The inclusion of a support service implies a level of ABC endorsement, so it is important to ensure the support service is appropriate, and will have the capacity to respond to a potential influx of contact from the ABC audience. The decision to include a new support service or helpline must be made independently by the ABC. If in doubt about the suitability of a service, contact an Editorial Policy Advisor.
Summary
Include support services or helplines when a story is likely to stimulate someone to seek help.
Use services that are tailored to the story’s circumstances. Preference is given to national services which operate 24 hours, seven days a week. Digital stories should include at least one online support service.
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. The Editorial Policies contain the standards enforceable under the ABC’s internal management processes and under the ABC’s complaints handling procedures.
It is expected the advice contained in guidance notes will normally be followed. 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.
Issued: 8 September 2025