Extract from The Guardian
ABC news director publishes defence of broadcaster as staff hold
protest meetings and accuse chairman of ‘political pressure behind
closed doors’
Gaven Morris, the ABC’s director of news, has sought to reassure the
public about the ABC’s independence following a day of revelations about
the public broadcaster’s management and the announcement of two separate inquiries.
Morris took the unusual step of publishing his defence on the ABC website, saying that, despite the current crisis, the broadcaster’s independence was well protected.
“It has been and it always will be,” Morris wrote. “Australia’s public broadcaster acts only in the interests of the Australian public and our independence is our most precious asset.”
Morris said the furore raised “very important questions about what the ABC’s legislated independence means and how its management, editorial leaders, journalists and other content makers put it into practice”.
His intervention comes after a day of rolling crises including claims that the chairman, Justin Milne, regularly spoke to executives, including Morris himself, about contentious stories or content he didn’t approve of.
ABC staff met across the country and demanded Milne step aside, prompted by a story first reported by Fairfax Media that Milne asked the former managing director Michelle Guthrie to sack journalist Emma Alberici to appease the Coalition government.
Milne called for Alberici, the broadcaster’s chief economics correspondent, to be fired because he believed she was damaging the public broadcaster’s standing with the federal government, according to a leaked email.
“They [the government] hate her,” Milne wrote. “Get rid of her.”
News of the email led to the convening of snap protest meetings at several ABC headquarters on Wednesday.
Scores of reporters poured out of the Ultimo building in Sydney after their lunchtime meeting unanimously passed a motion calling for Milne to step aside pending an investigation.
The motion called for “an independent inquiry into the allegations that have been made in the media today, and for the chairman to stand down in the interim while the investigation takes place.”
A similar motion was passed in Melbourne, which also noted that employees were “dismayed that the chairman of our own board is exerting political pressure behind closed doors”.
Staff in Brisbane went a step further, passing a motion calling for Milne to “immediately resign” if the political interference reported in the email was true.
At the meeting in Sydney, some staff carried placards that read “no political interference” and chanted “hands off ABC”.
“Our board of executives need to protect us from political interference from Canberra, not be a conduit for it,” ABC investigative reporter Stephen Long told the rally.
“If the chairman thinks this is an appropriate thing to do, the chairman doesn’t understand his role or the importance of maintaining independence and integrity of the ABC.”
Reporter Greg Miskelly said the allegations cast a cloud over the future of the public broadcaster.
“This is a situation that no journalist from across Australia can stand for,” he said. “Political interference in any form of journalism is akin to state control of the media.”
Guthrie was sacked by the board on Monday, with Milne citing the need for “fresh leadership”.
Morris took the unusual step of publishing his defence on the ABC website, saying that, despite the current crisis, the broadcaster’s independence was well protected.
“It has been and it always will be,” Morris wrote. “Australia’s public broadcaster acts only in the interests of the Australian public and our independence is our most precious asset.”
Morris said the furore raised “very important questions about what the ABC’s legislated independence means and how its management, editorial leaders, journalists and other content makers put it into practice”.
His intervention comes after a day of rolling crises including claims that the chairman, Justin Milne, regularly spoke to executives, including Morris himself, about contentious stories or content he didn’t approve of.
ABC staff met across the country and demanded Milne step aside, prompted by a story first reported by Fairfax Media that Milne asked the former managing director Michelle Guthrie to sack journalist Emma Alberici to appease the Coalition government.
Milne called for Alberici, the broadcaster’s chief economics correspondent, to be fired because he believed she was damaging the public broadcaster’s standing with the federal government, according to a leaked email.
“They [the government] hate her,” Milne wrote. “Get rid of her.”
News of the email led to the convening of snap protest meetings at several ABC headquarters on Wednesday.
Scores of reporters poured out of the Ultimo building in Sydney after their lunchtime meeting unanimously passed a motion calling for Milne to step aside pending an investigation.
The motion called for “an independent inquiry into the allegations that have been made in the media today, and for the chairman to stand down in the interim while the investigation takes place.”
A similar motion was passed in Melbourne, which also noted that employees were “dismayed that the chairman of our own board is exerting political pressure behind closed doors”.
Staff in Brisbane went a step further, passing a motion calling for Milne to “immediately resign” if the political interference reported in the email was true.
At the meeting in Sydney, some staff carried placards that read “no political interference” and chanted “hands off ABC”.
“Our board of executives need to protect us from political interference from Canberra, not be a conduit for it,” ABC investigative reporter Stephen Long told the rally.
“If the chairman thinks this is an appropriate thing to do, the chairman doesn’t understand his role or the importance of maintaining independence and integrity of the ABC.”
Reporter Greg Miskelly said the allegations cast a cloud over the future of the public broadcaster.
“This is a situation that no journalist from across Australia can stand for,” he said. “Political interference in any form of journalism is akin to state control of the media.”
Guthrie was sacked by the board on Monday, with Milne citing the need for “fresh leadership”.
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