Mosque footage: no penalty for TV stations

Australian television stations that broadcast the live feed of a gunman who attacked two mosques in Christchurch reportedly won't be penalised by the media watchdog.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority has not publicly released the results of its investigation of Nine Entertainment Co, Seven West Media, Network Ten, News Corp's Sky News, the ABC and SBS, all of which aired the footage during daytime news broadcasts.

It has, however, handed the confidential report to the broadcasters, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age reported on Friday.

The Australian gunman, Brenton Tarrant, live-streamed his attack on the mosques on Facebook. He killed 51 people and wounded dozens more.

"Having reviewed the range of treatments of the alleged perpetrator and survivor footage that was broadcast, the ACMA considers that there was some material that raises questions about whether there was compliance with the broadcasting codes of practice," the SMH and Age cited the report as saying.

"This is especially so where video footage of shooting at people was shown."

However, the ACMA decided against punishing the broadcasters.

"Instead, the ACMA considers that this investigation would more usefully prompt a productive conversation with industry about whether its codes are adequately framed to deal with this type of material in the future."