Most readers don’t like academic papers much. As a past academic I had to read lots and write a few. It was usually boring.
But here’s a pseudo-academic paper you might find interesting. It’s in plain English so don’t be scared.
If you’re reading from Australia, you may have noticed how much time and energy the ABC dedicates to the LGBTQA cause. Mardi Gras in March is fair enough. I get it. This is about the only LGB thing they cover anyway.
Yet to cover Pride, Trans Day of Awareness, International Transexual Day, Wear it Purple Day and all the other TQA days with gushy over-the top NEWS pieces is just too bloody much.
But are they NEWS pieces? Well they must be. They’re in the NEWS section. They aren’t in an ‘Opinion’ section.
And being in the NEWS section, they must abide by the standards of objective journalism surely? They must treat all sides of an issue fairly and without bias?
Now don’t get me wrong. The ABC has some terrific talent and most of their offerings are first class. It’s the ABC News division that concerns me. The ABC is tax-payer funded after all. Objective NEWS reporting is paramount? Surely?
NOT SO …..
1. Abstract
An analysis of 70 ABC Online News text articles covering gender identity topics (Trans, Queer, Agender - TQA) was conducted using the ‘AllSides’ media bias analysis tool. Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual (LGB) topics were NOT included as they did not fit in the ‘gender identity’ topic category.
‘Opinion’ articles have natural bias and were NOT included in the research. Only articles listed in the NEWS filter were analysed.
The purpose of the study was to discover if the ABC is biased in their NEWS reporting on topics related to gender diversity. Claims on social media suggest the ABC is overly influenced by their membership of ACON’s Pride Inclusion Programs. These claims that bias was diluting the impartiality of ABC NEWS on TQA topics needed testing.
The AllSides Media Bias tool was chosen due to its frequent use in universities, schools and media outlets to teach about media bias. It is also NOT based in Australia and would therefore have no past AI bias towards the ABC.
The analysis revealed an average -1.72 left leaning bias in news articles related to gender identity, transgender, non-binary or gender diversity. The articles were written in a way to skew opinion with the AllSides analysis frequently finding:
1. Opinion statements presented as fact
2. Sensationalism and emotionalism
3. Subjective Qualifying Adjectives
4. Bias by Omission
5. Spin and Slant
The public expect NEWS articles to take an unbiased and objective approach as outlined in the ABC Charter.
This bias in NEWS reporting is inconsistent with ABC Policy and risks public distrust in the national broadcaster. The study also ads credibility to claims of influence by external LGBTQA alliances.
The study was presented to the ABC Ombudsman with the aim of:
1. Having all articles labelled as opinion presented as fact, spin and bias by omission transferred to an ’Opinion’ section.
2. The ABC Board immediately resigning the ABC’s membership of all alliances that will potentially bias news reporting OR that could be SEEN to potentially bias news reporting.
3. ABC NEWS Management and employees undertaking anti-bias NEWS training.
2. Reference source selection and Sample
a. Reference source (540):
The ABC Online ‘News’ Filter’ between January 2020 – June 2025 was searched using the following terms:
Transgender
Gender diverse
Non-binary
Gender identity
540 articles were found hereafter called the ‘Reference Articles’. These were from the ‘News’ section and did not include opinion, audio or video content.
b. Sample (70):
A sample of 70 articles were selected at random from the 540 reference articles.
3. Method
These 70 were analysed by the AllSides Media Bias tool according to:
1. Spin and Slant
2. Sensationalism
3. Bias by Omission
4. Word choice
5. Unsubstantiated claims
6. Opinion statements presented as fact
7. Subjective Qualifying Adjectives
8. Negativity bias
4. Results
The results showed an average -1.72 left-leaning bias on articles (see meter). Only 3 of the 70 articles received an ‘objective’ or 0.0 rating. The highest rating was -5.0 (extreme) left leaning.
A bias of this degree would be expected in opinion articles or privately owned media outlets (Fox, Ch 7 etc). A -1.72 bias is not acceptable in NEWS articles published by the National Broadcaster.
News topic selection
That 540 TQA articles feature in the NEWS section when the gender diversity topic concerns 0.9% of the Australian population is also worthy of further research.
Only one article among the 540 discussed the Internationally important Cass Review questioning gender affirming treatment of children.
While not connected to this study, research by Kurt Mahlburg from the Canberra Declaration conducted a GROK analysis of 50 general ABC NEWS articles and found an average left-leaning bias score of -2.46.
This shows a greater bias than found by AllSides. As GROK is owned by Elon Musk, a supporter of right-wing issues, this result should be tempered. However, it acts as an interesting comparison to the AllSides results.
5. Going forward
The findings by AllSides are a concern for those seeking objective and unbiased NEWS reporting from Australia’s publicly funded news outlet. The following requests have been made to the ABC Ombudsman because of the study.
1.
That ABC NEWS Management move all ABC Online NEWS text articles labelled as opinion presented as fact, spin and bias by omission by the AllSides analysis to an ’Opinion’ section to be listed on the left sidebar together with the other 20 ABC categories (Stateline, Religion & Ethics etc)
2.
That ABC Management immediately resign their membership of all outside alliances that will potentially bias news reporting OR could be SEEN to potentially bias news reporting. This includes ACON’s Pride initiatives and Australian Workplace Equality Index.
This step is vital in addressing issues of objective reporting as outlined in The ABC Charter.
Of special relevance is Appendix 1, Section 8 of the ABC Charter which states:
“It is the duty of the Board to ensure that the gathering and presentation by the Corporation of news and information is accurate and impartial according to the recognized standards of objective journalism”.
The Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 also has relevance for ABC journalists acting as Commonwealth employees in that they should:
a) act in good faith
b) not gain advantage for themselves or any other person
c) their information must not gain advantage for themselves or any other person
d) they must disclose material personal interest that relates to the affairs of the entity
3.
That ABC NEWS Management and Staff undertake anti-bias NEWS training so that news reporting can reflect the objective and balanced approach sought in the ABC Charter.
6. Authors Note
This study was submitted to the ABC Ombudsman on 23/6/25.
Phillip Dye
23/6/25
So if you’ve read this far, you may be moved to action. To make a complaint to the ABC about media bias on issues of gender identity, or about any topic at all, you can make your views known HERE. Thanks for reading.