ABC under fire for failing to introduce Michelle Ananda-Rajah as a Labor candidate

The ABC has been accused of running a “one-way hit job” after airing a Four Corners episode about the vaccine rollout that failed to identify one of its expert voices as a Labor candidate.

The ABC has been accused of running a “one-way hit job” after airing a Four Corners episode about Australia’s vaccine rollout that failed to identify one of its expert voices as a Labor candidate for the next federal election.

On Monday night the broadcaster aired “Lockdown: How Australia’s vaccine failures left us trapped by Covid-19”, which purported to tell the story of “how Australia was left dangerously exposed” to the Delta strain by a slow vaccine rollout.

Dr Michelle Ananda-Rajah was interviewed by the ABC’s Four Corners.

Among those the program interviewed was Dr Michelle Ananda-Rajah, an epidemiologist who has been a high-profile critic of the AstraZeneca vaccine — who was not identified as the ALP’s candidate for the Victorian seat of Higgins.

In a number of tweets as well as an appearance on the ABC’s Q&A over the past year Dr Ananda-Rajah has claimed Australia was being “short-changed” by an “inferior vaccine”, despite the AstraZeneca jab successfully getting the UK through the pandemic.

“Four Corners last night was a missed opportunity,” said Liberal MP Jason Falinski, who represents the northern beaches seat of MacKellar.

Federal Liberal MP for Mackellar Jason Falinski said the program was a “missed opportunity”.

“There are many elements of the health response that need investigating, for example, the covert campaign by Labor insiders to get ATAGI to trash the Australian made AstraZeneca; or the number of errors made by self-appointed media experts that have only scared Australians and undermined the vaccine rollout; and who are never called to account.

“It was a one way hit job of wannabe Labor candidates and former party outcasts who have consistently undermined the Australian made AstraZeneca. It was so disappointing,” he said.

Others suggested that the government needed to do more to rein in the ABC.

“This constitutes a very serious breach of the ABC’s statutory obligations. It is time that the ABC started to take the need to report matters accurately and impartially seriously,” added Victorian senator Sarah Henderson.

Evan Mulholland, Director of Communications at free market think tank the Institute of Public Affairs, said: “The ABC gloats about transparency and disclosure but has yet again fallen short by failing to disclose that Dr Michelle Ananda-Rajah is a Labor candidate.”

A medical staffer prepares a jab of the Covishield, AstraZeneca-Oxford's Covid-19 coronavirus vaccine. Picture: AFP

“The best time to do something about the ABC was 20 years ago. The Coalition Party Room needs to realise the second-best time to reform the ABC is now.”

“There is a reason it’s known as ‘Their ABC’ because it’s certainly not ours.”

In response to criticism online, Four Corners executive producer Sally Neighbour said that the show “interviewed Michelle Ananda-Rajah in May, well before she announced her candidacy” but did not explain why that fact could not have been edited in to the show before broadcast.

The ABC has been approached for comment.

Originally published as ABC under fire for failing to introduce Michelle Ananda-Rajah as a Labor candidate