"In this instance our editorial processes failed": ABC Managing Director Michelle GuthrieCredit: Alex Ellinghausen
ABC boss Michelle Guthrie has conceded the news outlet "clearly failed" by publishing a pair of controversial articles about corporate tax by its chief economics correspondent Emma Alberici.
In a repentant letter to Communications Minister Mitch Fifield on Tuesday, Ms Guthrie promised to do better in the future and indicated Alberici's material was subject to an internal investigation.
And in a late night appearance before Senate estimates, the ABC boss failed to express confidence in Alberici, saying only that she would continue in her role as chief economics correspondent.
Ms Guthrie and the ABC's head of editorial Alan Sunderland denied pressure from Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Treasurer Scott Morrison, Mr Fifield, Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce or the Business Council of Australia had prompted the ABC to remove or amend Alberici's stories.
A news story and an analysis piece were later republished with major revisions, particularly the latter which was critical of the Turnbull government's proposal to cut company taxes. Critics said the pieces confused revenue with profit and unfairly targeted Qantas for a failure to pay tax when the company had in fact carried over a series of large losses.
"While it would be premature to predict the outcome of the investigation, I acknowledge that in this instance our editorial processes failed," Ms Guthrie wrote to Mr Fifield on Tuesday.
"While both pieces went through the online sub-editing process, they were not upwardly referred to more senior editors prior to publication. This was a lapse and one ABC News and Editorial Policies have taken steps to avoid in the future."
Ms Guthrie told the Senate hearing that although the organisation had "clearly failed" in this instance, her efforts were focused on fixing editorial processes, not apportioning blame.
"I do not think at all that we have hung Ms Alberici out to dry," she said. However, Ms Guthrie failed to express confidence in Alberici when asked, instead replying: "Ms Alberici is our chief economics correspondent and will continue to be our chief economics correspondent."
Mr Sunderland insisted external complaints - including one from Mr Turnbull - played no role in the ABC's decision to take down and amend Alberici's work, which was first published two weeks ago. But he was unable to answer specific questions about who said what to whom and when - a level of unpreparedness which Labor senator Deb O'Neill derided as "frankly quite disturbing".
Mr Sunderland said news director Gaven Morris had initiated a review of the articles within 90 minutes of their publication. He rejected the idea Alberici's stories were "riddled with errors", but said: "We thought some things could be better expressed and more clearly contextualised. The story should have been perfect when it was published – it wasn’t.”
Alberici, who was vigorously defended her reputation in tweets since the controversy erupted, faces an ongoing internal probe by the ABC's Audience and Consumer Affairs Unit into the complaints which have been received. The former Lateline presenter came under fire from Liberals for retweeting Labor leader Bill Shorten, who had posted a link to her original article.
The ABC has also copped criticism for its handling of the so-called Cabinet Files, a trove of government documents discovered in a used filing cabinet sold at a Canberra thrift shop. Critics internal and external have asserted the ABC should have pushed the stories harder and resisted the authorities' demands to recoup the files.
In a letter to ABC staff on Tuesday, Morris announced a restructure of senior editorial positions in response to the controversies, acknowledging there had been "a number of editorial issues" and saying it was clear additional resources needed to be put into "editorial oversight".
But troops at the ABC are angry about the way the issues have been handled by senior managers, arguing it reveals bigger issues at the national broadcaster. One ABC presenter told Fairfax Media Ms Guthrie and Mr Sunderland had revealed themselves to be "out of touch".
The ABC will be hauled before a spillover Senate estimates session likely to be held on April 9.