ABC News on the Ropes
The end is nigh for ABC ideologues
To listen rather than read, click the play button below. A 7-minute listen.
If there’s ever been a time for Australia’s ABC to shed some weight, the time is now.
Once honoured for their impartial approach to reporting, the news division has descended into a most unlikely hell. Its a place they have esteemed company.
The ABC’s counterpart in the UK, the BBC, has just seen two top directors resign for their participation in and approval of “serious and systemic” bias in NEWS reporting.
Now this wasn’t just one or two stories. There are hundreds of examples of biased reporting and selective editing from the Beeb over the years.
The one that saw the resignation of the Bias Bosses however related to the selective editing of a Donald Trump speech from January 6, 2021. The BBC news team, in their immaculate wisdom, thought it OK to cobble together parts of two different Trump speeches and leave out bits that didn’t suit their narrative.
In short, they made the then ex-president look like he was endorsing violence, when he wasn’t. A shoddy excuse for journalism usually reserved for the tabloid press.
But hold on! It turns out that the Bias Bosses at our ABC did the same thing! On that busy day in 2021, the ABC news team chopped up the Trump speeches to provide an equally negative perspective. This is just one of the examples of selective editing and bias by omission proved to be a constant in ABC news reporting. More can be seen HERE and HERE.
Who will face the guillotine?
So whose heads will roll at the ABC? First and foremost, the noggin of News Director Justin Stevens must be chopped and spiked (a metaphor of course). His weasel word excuses for bias and inaccurate reporting in the past, especially his obfuscation in the Heston Russell inquiry, were sickening.
How many times must an individual “sincerely apologise” before we realise his failures are not simple mistakes, but blatant intent.
Along with Stevens, the Editorial Director Gavin Fang needs to suffer the same plight. Fang, the ex Director of Diversity and Inclusion (DEI) at the ABC, has history in creative direction.
No idealistic belief can be diffused into the news content of our taxpayer funded news service Gavin. This includes your no doubt honest belief in DEI principles. Impartial, objective journalism free from outside influence is what the ABC Charter demands. It’s what the public is NOT getting.
The third beheading is a class action I’m afraid. Nothing happens at the ABC without Board approval with the assistance of the Advisory Committee. The ABC Board, according to the Charter, must be independent and carefully monitor all aspects of ABC performance including the NEWS Division. Laura Tingle is the ABC Staff Elected Director on the Board. Enough said.
The Advisory Committee, not having decision-making power, are virtual puppets of ABC Management including Fang and Stevens. Many are members of advocacy groups. Some have the term ‘lived experience’ in their bio. All are supporters of the ABC and as such, may be intrinsically blind to ABC failings. This is obviously the case.
The Board have either been asleep at the wheel or complicit in the bias displayed by the NEWS Division. My communication with Board Chairman Kim Williams, indicates it could be more the former. An unwillingness to face the facts rather than a directive.
Either way, the entire board and advisory committee must be replaced and those appointed must have an advocacy for journalistic truth, not simply cultural or political opinion. Advocacy can be a part of other ABC programing, yet never in NEWS.
Dedication to the ABC Charter and a respect for the standards of objective news journalism must be dominant in any board or committee appointment.
As the Australian public learn more about ABC News failings, the end for the Bias Bosses is closing in. It can’t come soon enough.
Government Petition Launched
The government petition to remove the ABC from membership of the Aids Council of NSW (ACON), a transgender advocacy group, is a part of that push for journalistic integrity. The ABC cannot serve two masters, the master of transgender rights and the master of objective reporting. Approaching 1,000 signatures, the petition needs more. Please sign HERE.