The ABC Ombudsman has dismissed a formal complaint by Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP about the broadcaster’s coverage of voluntary assisted dying. Source: The Catholic Weekly.
Fiona Cameron denied that there had been a lack of impartiality in any of the ABC’s coverage.
After several programs, interviews, and social media posts in July coinciding with the ALP national convention, the Archbishop had alleged that the ABC’s coverage was biased, lacked impartiality, and failed to present alternative viewpoints.
Within nine days, Australia’s leading campaigner for VAD, Andrew Denton, of Go Gentle Australia, was featured on a Compass episode, published an op-ed on the ABC website, and was interviewed twice.
According to a report published in The Australian based on a leaked letter, Archbishop Fisher had been scathing in his assessment of the ABC’s commitment to “the highest level of impartiality” in its coverage of public issues.
Its own editorial standards, he noted, state that “impartiality requires that the ABC ‘is never seen to be advocating for any particular outcome in contentious political, policy or social debates’ and ‘the greater the degree of contentiousness, the more important it is for ABC content to be impartial’”.
However, according to the Archbishop’s letter, “Over a period of nine days, the ABC repeatedly provided the founder of an organisation established to advocate for euthanasia and assisted suicide law reform, with opportunities across television, radio, online and social media to make the case for amending a federal prohibition on the use of telehealth for euthanasia and assisted suicide.
“The principal arguments for retaining the prohibition were not put forward by those who hold them; rather, they were largely summarised or characterised by Denton.
“The imbalance is particularly significant because three of the relevant items, as well as two associated social media posts, were published or broadcast in the four days immediately preceding an Australian Labor Party National Conference vote on the issue being advocated.”
The ombudsman studied each of the disputed incidents and concluded that there had been no breach of the ABC’s editorial standards for independence and integrity or for impartiality and diversity of perspectives. She said that no action would be taken.
FULL STORY
ABC denies bias in VAD coverage (By Michael Cook, The Catholic Weekly)
