Senator Claire Chandler intervenes to ABC chairwoman Ita Buttrose over trans story

A vocal Liberal senator has raised further issues with a corrected ABC news story about transgender athletes, saying it continues to contain “basic errors of fact and omission”.

A vocal Liberal senator has written to ABC chairwoman Ita Buttrose raising fresh concerns about a “materially misleading” ABC news story which focused on trans athletes.

Senator Claire Chandler, who has campaigned to save single-sex sports for females, has now intervened in the debate over the article after it was revealed by The Daily Telegraph last week.

She wants to know whether the ABC’s affiliations with lobby groups and participation in reward programs had influenced the framing of the online article.

The article in question was forced to include an “editors’ note” and update links following an investigation by the ABC Audience and Consumer Affairs division after a complaint.

The review found the April article was misleading about transgender women’s physical advantages and did not include relevant research showing that trans women “can retain physical advantages”.

Liberal Senator Claire Chandler makes her maiden speech in the Senate Chamber at Parliament House in Canberra, Tuesday, July 23, 2019. (AAP Image/Mick Tsikas) NO ARCHIVING

But Ms Chandler says the article continues to contain “basic errors of fact and omission”.

“Despite the damning findings by the Audience and Consumer Affairs division, the article remains online and continues to contain basic errors of fact and omission,” Ms Chandler told Ms Buttrose.

Claire Chandler has written to ABC Chairwoman raisng further concerns over the news article.

“I would suggest this series of errors and breaches of standards could only have occurred in circumstances where the author set out to make a predetermined case, selected interviewees to support their own position and purposefully omitted relevant facts which demonstrate there is a substantial evidence that trans women retain performance advantages as a result of male puberty.”

She asked Ms Buttrose, the ABC board and management to investigate why the author did not seek the views of female athletes, or “report the many statements from high-profile female athletes in support of single-sex sport”?

Other questions she said required investigation included why the article did not reference peer-reviewed research, or include experts involved in the creation of the World Rugby and FINA policies.

Both of those bodies have now restricted transwomen from participation in single-sex female competitions.

The ABC is under fire over the impartiality of its trans athlete sport story. Picture: AAP Image/David Gray

The senator, who has brought a bill to the federal parliament to save female single-sex sport, also asked why the article “falsely claims that ‘in some cases transgender women have been banned from competition entirely’ in World Rugby and UCI”, when in fact they are not banned from their appropriate sex category.

“Why the author chose not to reference peer-reviewed research on the specific subject of retained male advantage, or interview the authors of such research?” Ms Chandler also asked.

“How none of the shortcomings above were picked up by editorial processes before the article was published on April 27?”

The ABC and Ms Buttrose have been contacted for a response, and comment is being sought from transgender female sport advocates.

The internal ABC review of the article found the story was also “not in keeping with the ABC’s editorial standards for impartiality”.

“On review, Audience and Consumer Affairs have concluded that the story did not provide an adequate overview of the available science, and in particular did not include reference to relevant recent research which indicates that trans women can retain physical advantages.”

An ABC spokeswoman it would respond to Senator Chandler’s letter “in due course”.

“The ABC’s complaints handling unit investigated a complaint over this story and as a result of its findings changes were made to ensure the article complies with the ABC’s Editorial Policies,” she said.

“This was transparently disclosed to the public in an Editor’s Note that was published on the story and will also be published on the complaints page.

“Transgender and gender identity issues are complex and require careful editorial judgement to ensure informed reporting without causing offence or undue distress and harm to vulnerable individuals and communities.”