An ombudsman’s report into Australia’s national broadcaster has revealed it receives around 3,000 complaints per year about its editorial standards.
Between 2021 and 2023, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) received on average 23,767 complaints in total per year, which it considers to be a relatively healthy number.
The ombudsman, Fiona Cameron, said the majority of complaints were related to the “personal taste or preference” of the audience and to ABC as a whole, but around 15 percent raised concerns about its editorial standards, including claims of bias and a lack of impartiality.
The report (pdf) also found that in 2022, about 42 percent of complaints involved accusations of bias, 25 percent about factual inaccuracy, and another 15 percent regarding unfair treatment.
In response to the findings, ABC has adjusted the way it handles complaints.
“After extensive consultation, a revised process has now been implemented. It is the objective of the complaint handling framework to resolve or respond to reasonable complaints as efficiently and extensively as possible”, the report said.
Notable components of the revision include changes to the establishment of an internal review mechanism where complainants who remain unsatisfied with a response from the ABC are entitled to an independent ombudsman’s review.
Further, complainants do not need to have an interest or proximity to the subject matter of an article.
The revision also places an emphasis on swift responsiveness, attempting to reply to complaints from first contact and facilitating a more thorough investigation.
Ombudsman Cameron reflected on the half-yearly report today, saying the public broadcaster was willing to maintain a high level of accountability to the Australian public.
“The ABC holds itself up to very high standards and there are some industries out there that love to, if the ABC does trip up, lord it over them and I think it’s fair to say that the ABC has been a bit defensive,” Ms. Cameron told ABC Radio Melbourne.
“I think they need to shake that off and they need to understand that audiences actually appreciate when the ABC says, ‘Hey, we got that wrong’ or ‘Hey, we can do better,’” she added.
“My role is to listen, to discuss, to where appropriate encourage the ABC to clarify. We’ve got a questions and clarifications page which we need to make better use of and we are beginning to be open to saying we could do it better, to provide context.”
Woodside Energy Saga
The broadcaster has received criticism for a number of incidents, most recently its involvement in a radical climate protest at the home of Woodside Energy CEO Meg O’Neill in Perth.Two weeks ago, an ABC camera crew was filmed waiting outside Ms. O’Neill’s house as climate protestors assembled outside, recording footage for its Four Corners program.
The crew was deemed by many, including WA Premier Roger Cook, to be complicit in documenting the activity of the protestors.
“The fact that an ABC crew attended the home of a private citizen to document the committing of alleged criminal acts is a cause for great concern and morally wrong,” Mr. Cook wrote in a letter addressed to the broadcaster.
Coronation Coverage
The organisation also received scrutiny for its coverage of King Charles Ⅲ’s coronation in May.The program featured a commentary panel comprising the Australian Republic Movement’s Co-Chair Craig Foster, ABC journalist and former Q&A host Stan Grant, as well as Australian-British monarchist and author Kathy Lette.
The panel was criticised for entwining the coronation with issues facing Aboriginal communities in modern Australia.
“The symbol of that crown represented the invasion, the theft of land and in our case, the exterminating war which will next year mark 200 years,” said the Indigenous-Australian Mr. Grant.
“They are at the heart of the dispossession, of the stolen land of our First Nations people and of massacres and attempted genocide in this country and others,” Mr. Foster said.
Over 1,000 official complaints were lodged following the coverage, mainly claiming it violated official ABC standards regarding impartiality, and accuracy.
Complaints are not the only matter the ABC has had to deal with, recent documents presented at Senate Estimates reveal the broadcaster has spent just under $2 million battling defamation lawsuits over the past three years.
Around $750,000 of that $2 million was used to settle defamation suits.
ABC’s Managing Director David Anderson, in a speech to the hearing, said the organisation on average received 16 notices to commence defamation suits between 2018 and 2022.
