Extract from The Guardian
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Public broadcaster suggests story referred to managing director was ‘not ready’ but it will air
First published on Thu 3 Jun 2021 20.35 AEST
An upcoming episode of Four Corners examining the relationship between the prime minister, Scott Morrison, and a supporter of the QAnon conspiracy theory has been delayed after concerns were expressed by the ABC news director, Gaven Morris.
Morris “upwardly referred” the episode to the broadcaster’s managing director, David Anderson, for review, a senior source told Guardian Australia.
ABC management’s concern about the program comes as Anderson prepares for an additional appearance at Senate estimates on Monday. He was recalled to be questioned about Christian Porter’s defamation suit against the ABC which the former attorney general dropped on Monday.
There are conflicting accounts about whether the QAnon program had been cleared by the ABC’s legal and editorial processes when Morris stepped in. But it is standard practice at the broadcaster to “upwardly refer” sensitive content.
Four Corners producers had hoped to air the program next week but news management believed it was “not ready”.
“The MD, as the editor-in-chief, ultimately makes the decision,” an ABC source said. “This sort of story has to be fireproof.”
Sources close to the program said after management expressed concerns four weeks ago additional work was done and the episode was ready for broadcast.
The program, reported by Louise Milligan, is expected to air at a later date.
“The ABC did not ‘pull’ a story from broadcast,” an ABC spokesperson said on Thursday following reports the program had been.
“Any suggestion to the contrary is misleading and mischievous. All ABC content is subject to the same rigorous editorial decision-making processes before being published.
“The decision to publish is only made once all requirements, including editorial and legal requirements, have been met and it is appropriate to do so.”
In 2019, Guardian Australia revealed that a significant Australian proponent of the QAnon conspiracy, Tim Stewart, was a family friend of Morrison and that his wife was on the prime minister’s staff.
The QAnon conspiracy purports that powerful forces are hiding and protecting satanic paedophile rings and that a secretive individual named Q leaves clues for his followers to decipher on internet forums.
Last year, Stewart’s QAnon Twitter account, BurnedSpy34, was permanently suspended for “engaging in coordinated harmful activity”.
Stewart said in 2019 he had not attempted to influence Morrison or had conversations with him about any QAnon content.
“I have never spoken to Scott about anything of a political nature. I’m not an adviser. The idea of me talking to him about this ... it’s just not true,” he said at the time.
The ABC is under fire from the Morrison government at the moment over its Porter reporting. The broadcaster was accused of “systemic bias” at the Coalition party room meeting this week.
The Nationals MP George Christensen spoke up in defence of Porter and urged the government to take action against the ABC, accusing the broadcaster of “systemic bias”.
Christensen said the government should “strike while the iron is hot ... starting with the chairman”, a comment that Coalition members believe was targeted at the ABC chair, Ita Buttrose.
The ABC board has defended Buttrose from a “disrespectful” attack by the Liberal powerbroker Michael Kroger, who labelled her leadership of the public broadcaster a “terrible failure” on Sky News on Wednesday.
Kroger’s vitriolic spray was so personal it forced the ABC board member Joseph Gersh to mount a public defence of the media veteran on ABC radio in Melbourne.
Guardian Australia revealed that the ABC rejected an offer from Porter to settle his defamation case weeks before the minister agreed to enter mediation.
The former attorney general was claiming a victory in the high-profile case, but it is understood he originally made an offer for a relatively modest financial settlement without an apology or a retraction of the article.
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