ABC boss David Anderson ‘confident of journalism’ in Christian Porter case

David Anderson says the public broadcaster’s work ‘was of the highest quality and this will be borne out in court’.

ABC Managing Director David Anderson answers questions in Senate estimates at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: Sean Davey

ABC managing director David Anderson has delivered a staunch defence of the national broadcaster’s coverage of historical rape allegations against Attorney-General Christian Porter, telling a Senate hearing that quality journalism “occasionally makes life uncomfortable and difficult for governments of all persuasions”.

Mr Anderson prefaced questions from a cross-party panel of senators on Tuesday by stating there were limits to what he could say about the ABC’s handling of the Porter matter because of the defamation suit launched by the Attorney-General against the broadcaster and reporter Louise Milligan. “The Attorney-General continues to be entitled to the presumption of innocence and the public broadcaster has reflected this in its reporting,” he said.

“The ABC broke the story about a letter concerning the historical rape allegation sent to senior federal politicians with an online piece on February 26, reporting the existence of the anonymous letter and who had been sent it.

“No reputable media organisation could have ignored the existence of the letter or the fact politicians on both sides … had referred it to police.”

Mr Anderson said the ABC’s journalism in relation to the Porter story was of the “highest quality, and this will be borne out in court proceedings”.

Later in the hearing, Mr Anderson was asked whether Milligan had “acted politically” in her journalistic pursuit of Porter and Cardinal George Pell. “Four Corners has acted impartially at all times, with the journalism they have produced,” he said.

The ABC boss also rejected a suggestion the Inside the Canberra Bubble Four Corners episode, which aired last November, had been edited after intervention from the federal government.

“The ABC’s independence is completely intact and we have not changed any program after any contact from the government, or any parliamentarian. What we do is that we go to people where appropriate for responses. Those (responses) might frame the program, but we make our own editorial judgments.”

Liberal senator Andrew Bragg asked Mr Anderson about the use of social media by staff members of the ABC, highlighting a recent tweet by comedian Julia Zemiro that read: “Peter Dutton, you continue to disgrace.”

He said Zemiro was a contractor, and not a full-time employee.

He said the ABC could not monitor what Zemiro posted on social media if she was not contracted to the ABC at the time. “But we do have processes in place … in our employment agreement. Failure to comply with this … may or may not lead to termination of an employee.”

Under questioning from Labor senator Nita Green, Mr Anderson conceded that a headline on the ABC website on January 25, that interchanged the words “Australia Day” with “Invasion Day”, should not have been published.

“I think the way the headline was … said those terms are interchangeable and I don’t think they are. ABC policy is that January 26 is Australia Day,” he said.

“I don’t believe it (the headline) was inaccurate, I think it was ­confusing.”

Mr Anderson was also asked about the proposal in the federal government’s green paper — released late last year — that floated the idea of moving both ABC and SBS on to a single broadcasting “multiplex”, which would cut the number of digital channels available on the broadcasters.

“I don’t think we’re yet, I don’t think the audiences have declined enough to reduce those channels,” he said.

Towards the end of his near two-hour appearance before the Senate committee, Mr Anderson rubbished a recent claim by former prime minister Kevin Rudd that the ABC’s political ideology was “centre-right”.

“I think categorising entire mastheads to a political ideology … can be quite tricky. I would place us as impartial.”