Crowe smoking sparks legal row

A cigarette smoked by Russell Crowe on Australian television has sparked a legal battle.

The Nine Network has launched a challenge in Sydney's Federal Court against a ruling by Australia's broadcasting watchdog that it breached a law banning the advertising of cigarettes.

The Australian Broadcasting Authority said an interview with Crowe shown on the station's 60 Minutes programme in October 2000, in which Crowe was seen holding a packet of Marlboros as he lit up, breached the Tobacco Advertisement Prohibition Act.

Part of the interview was replayed the following week after viewers criticised Crowe for his smoking habit.

The authority said that while the original footage was an "incidental accompaniment" allowed under the act, the repeat broadcast "recklessly" constituted a tobacco advertisement. But it decided not to fine the media organisation.

Nine Network lawyer John Griffiths told Federal Court judge Arthur Emmett that the finding was "perverse and irrational" and the authority should be ordered to reconsider its ruling.

Nine Network had discouraged rather than encouraged smoking when it referred in the interview to the movie star's habit as "weakness to the demon weed," Griffiths said.

Justice Emmett is scheduled to make a ruling tomorrow.