“Independent media represents a threat to commercial media and our journalism causes grief for powerful and vested interests.”
Sky News’ Chris Kenny claimed Four Corners had manipulated Trump’s speech during a broadcast this week, a claim that was then republished by The Australian in two stories, including one on the front page of Tuesday’s print edition, suggesting it raised new questions over the ABC’s impartiality.
The Australian has sought to question the ABC’s impartiality over the BBC saga.Credit: The Australian
Kenny called the ABC’s program an “almost identical act of deception” during his Monday night show, with Liberal senator Sarah Henderson calling for a Senate inquiry into the ABC over the program on Tuesday.
But the way the ABC’s program presented the comments did not alter the factual meaning of the content, or misrepresent Trump’s intent, Marks said in response.
“The edited segment retains the essential factual elements of the speech, namely, the call for supporters to ‘walk down to the Capitol’ and to ‘show strength’,” he said.
In a statement on Tuesday, Henderson said the ABC must be held to account for allegedly doctoring footage of Trump, a direct reference to Kenny’s allegation made on Sky, which the ABC has rejected. Henderson reiterated her criticism on Wednesday.
“Like the BBC, the ABC deleted several key lines of President Trump’s speech which made it clear he was urging people to walk to the Capitol to ‘…cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women …’” Henderson said.
“The decision by Four Corners to delete this part of the speech is material because it distorts what the president in fact said. There is nothing opportunistic about holding the national broadcaster to account when it falls short of the highest standards of journalism,” she said.
In his email to staff, Stevens noted a risk of disregarding legitimate complaints or concerns about the ABC, citing a mistake its Insiders program made this week in editing a photo of a politician without clearly indicating it had done so to its audience while trying to be satirical.
“The politician quite rightly complained to us. We immediately and transparently fixed it, apologised, and [are] discussing as a team how to ensure we don’t do it again,” Stevens said.
The politician in question was Liberal senator Jane Hume.
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