ABC news chief blasts News Corp as staff rally to support Stan Grant

The ABC’s director of news has blasted News Corp for what he says has been a campaign against the broadcaster that contributed to Wiradjuri journalist Stan Grant standing down as host of Q+A.

Grant announced on Friday he would walk away from the program following his final show on Monday night, after being subjected to a tirade of racist abuse.

ABC staff rally to support Stan Grant at Ultimo on Monday.Credit: Edwina Pickles

In the first interview given by a senior representative of ABC management on the issue, director of news Justin Stevens spoke with ABC Melbourne Drive host Rafael Epstein on Monday afternoon.

Though he had been singled out by Grant on Friday as the only senior figure who had offered support, Stevens confessed that he felt he had not done enough, or responded quickly enough, to the abuse to which Grant had been subjected since his appearance as an invited guest and a “reluctant participant” during the ABC’s coverage of the coronation.

“Clearly Stan felt let down by the fact I wasn’t out there and the ABC wasn’t out there publicly defending him in recent weeks,” said Stevens. “I feel devastated that he feels let down by us. I regret not doing this sort of interview 10 days ago.”

Stevens said the scale and tenor of the abuse meant the ABC was dealing with an unprecedented level of attack.

“It’s a completely different ballgame now for us. Sections of the media, particularly in News Limited, will do anything they can to campaign against the ABC,” Stevens said.

Accusing some media of “piling on ... with a clear agenda” of seeking to undermine trust in the public broadcaster “just because we threaten their business model”, Stevens said.

“Australian media broadly need to have a good hard look at themselves at what’s in the public interest and where are their journalistic efforts best served for the public ... There’s a fine difference between scrutiny and pile-on.”

Insisting no one had yet been able to point to any inaccuracies in what was said during Grant’s appearance on the coronation coverage, as opposed to merely taking offence at it, he urged other media as well as social media critics to “stop going after people for doing their jobs”.

A response has been sought from News Corp.

On Monday afternoon, ABC staff rallied across the country in support of Grant. They gathered outside the organisation’s Sydney and Melbourne headquarters, holding placards reading “I stand with Stan” and “We reject racism”.

Other high-profile ABC staff, including Insiders host David Speers, RN Breakfast host Patricia Karvelas, former radio and TV host Fran Kelly and Melbourne radio host Virginia Trioli, also shared their support on social media.

Members of the ABC’s Parliament House bureau also took to the front of the building to show their support for Grant.

In Sydney, a few hundred ABC staff gathered outside the broadcaster’s Ultimo headquarters, including Australian Story host Leigh Sales and news anchor Jeremy Fernandez. Head of Indigenous news Suzanne Dredge said her colleagues were heartbroken by Grant’s statement and his stepping back from hosting duties.

“We have thick skin. It’s OK to scrutinise us in our work if we get it wrong. But it’s not OK to come at us with personal attacks,” she said.

Stan Grant is standing down from hosting Q+A over the racial abuse directed at him on social media.Credit: Chris Hopkins

Dredge described a fresh ABC review into how the broadcaster handles racist attacks against its staff as a landmark opportunity.

“I really hope we learn a lot from this process. We have the right people to ... turn the lens back on ourselves and look at what we’ve done and what we can do better.”

Grant’s children were also at the rally, and NITV journalist Lowanna Grant cried as she thanked the gathered crowd and said her family had struggled with the “disgusting filth online” directed at her father. High-profile Indigenous journalist Karla Grant, Stan Grant’s former partner, also spoke.

Speaking to this masthead, Rhoda Roberts, the first Indigenous presenter of a prime-time current affairs show in Australia, said: “What’s happening with Stan now has been this enabling that it’s OK to beat people up by bringing race into the debate. The sort of terminology being used by the right ... it enables people to be more toxic because they think that you can speak to Aboriginal people like this.

“I think in any organisation, executives or any non-Indigenous staff don’t actually understand the kind of lateral violence you receive, not only from the right out there, but also within your own community, and then across your own working environment. I don’t think anyone totally understands what we cop.”

The snap protest was called following a meeting of Indigenous ABC staff, in response to Grant’s announcement that he was stepping down from his duties.

Grant explained his decision in a column published on Friday, specifically citing the uptick in abuse he had received following his appearance on an ABC TV panel discussion focused on the legacy of the British crown in Australia, held before the coronation for King Charles III.

“On social media my family and I are regularly racially mocked or abused,” he wrote in the column. “This is not new. Barely a week goes by when I am not racially targeted. My wife is targeted with abuse for being married to a Wiradjuri man.

“I don’t even read it, yet I can’t escape it. People stop me in the street to tell me how vile it is. They tell me how sorry they are. Although I try to shield myself from it, the fact it is out there poisons the air I breathe.”

In the column, Grant expressed frustration at what he perceived as a lack of support from senior management in the fortnight since the coronation.

Asked by Epstein if Grant was stepping away from Q+A permanently, Stevens gave a strong indication that was not the case.

“We want to give him space and time to try and have a breather from this,” he said, adding that the show was due to go on a mid-season break in a few weeks.

“Hopefully he will return after the mid-season break,” he said. “We just don’t want to put under any extra pressure at the moment. He’s an incredible journalist ... we greatly value what he does ... he’s got a hell of a lot to add to the national conversation, and we want to help get him to a point where he feels he can do that again for us.”

After Grant’s announcement, ABC managing director David Anderson issued an apology to the journalist in an email to staff, and announced a review to investigate and make recommendations about ABC responses to racism affecting staff.

In 2022, Stevens apologised to staff who had experienced racism or bigotry in its newsrooms after a number of Indigenous staff detailed their experiences of racism to an internal staff advisory group. The review into those complaints, which led to the apology, was never made public.

With Jack Latimore