‘Justified and appropriate’: ABC boss deaf to coronation backlash

ABC managing director David Anderson has defended the broadcaster’s heavily-criticised coronation coverage.

The managing director of the ABC, David Anderson, has defended the national broadcaster’s heavily criticised coverage of the coronation of King Charles III earlier this month, telling a Senate hearing that despite attracting 1800 complaints from viewers, the telecast was “justified, relevant and appropriate”.

Mr Anderson said the ABC’s coverage on May 6, which included a panel discussion just prior to the coronation service that was stacked with anti-­monarchy commentators – including Q+A host Stan Grant – was in keeping with the broadcaster’s editorial guidelines.

The ABC’s most senior editorial figure was defiant in the face of suggestions the scheduling of the panel discussion was a mistake, and would have been more suited to another time.

“I think it (the coronation coverage) was justified, relevant and appropriate,” he said.

“We will need to keep holding difficult and uncomfortable conversations on behalf of the Australian people; that’s what we do.”

Mr Anderson admitted, however, that 1800 complaints on a single issue was “high” by the ABC’s standards.

An ABC spokesperson later told The Australian that it was “inaccurate” to say that there had been 1800 complaints about the coverage as some had been “discarded” because they were deemed “racist, abusive or insubstantial comments”.

Asked about Grant’s public statements last week that he felt “unsupported” by ABC management in the wake of criticism levelled at him for his comments on the discussion panel on the day of the coronation, Mr Anderson conceded the media organisation had “fallen short”.

“I’ve publicly apologised for not backing Stan in those moments,” he said.

Mr Anderson defended the ABC’s heavily criticised coverage of the coronation of King Charles III.

Fellow ABC executive Justin Stevens, who is the broadcaster’s director of news, added that senior executives had chosen not to speak out in support of Grant until 13 days after the coronation because they “didn’t want to be the story”.

“There was a torrent of criticism and I think he has very clearly expressed that he felt we ought to have defended his role in it, and I accept that we could have, in reflection, more publicly done that,” he said.

“I think there’s a few reasons: it’s not in the nature at the ABC to be the story, it’s not in our nature to agitate on a daily basis and make ourselves the story. However, due to the climate that we function in, our approach will have to change and there are ­lessons in this (about) how Stan felt.”

Mr Stevens, who on Monday accused News Corp (publisher of The Australian) of running a “campaign against the ABC”, also backtracked on those comments in the Senate, rebuffing a question from Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young about News Corp’s reporting on the ABC’s coverage of the coronation.

“The criticism of the ABC’s coverage was not limited to News Corp – Nine and other publishers were very critical as well,” Mr Stevens said.

ABC Q+A host Stan Grant on his final show on Monday before taking indefinite leave. Picture: ABC

He told the hearing that Grant was on “leave for around eight weeks”, although he was unable to answer whether it was paid leave, and he took the question on notice.

The ABC executives were also grilled by Liberal senator and former ABC staffer Sarah Henderson about whether journalists at the taxpayer-funded broadcaster should be allowed to offer on-air commentary or opinion.

“We do not allow our journalists to provide opinion, (but) there are some exceptions,” Mr Anderson told the hearing.

“Media Watch is more commentary and will provide an opinion, for instance, over what we do.

“But when it comes to our journalism, we should abide by that impartiality standard.”

Senator Henderson said the ABC previously operated on very strong rules that prohibited high-profile presenters or journalists from being commentators or giving opinions, “and that is critical for the integrity and impartiality of the ABC”.

She listed former high-profile journalists such as Andrew Olle, Paul Lyneham, Kerry O’Brien and Maxine McKew who were not permitted to share their personal opinions on-air when working at the public broadcaster.

Mr Anderson disagreed that the ABC’s “standards have slipped” on the issue of impartiality.

He also faced questions about racism within the ABC in the wake of Grant’s comments last week about the “relentless” racial abuse he had been subjected to on ­social media’

That had prompted the managing director to announce a review into the issue at the media organisation.

Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi asked Mr Anderson how the ABC planned to fix the “institutional” problem of racism within the broadcaster.

Mr Anderson replied: “It’s something we are actively pur­suing. It’s not happening as quickly as we would like.”

He did divulge that the ABC would call on internal and external experts to conduct the upcoming racism review.

“I think we need a mix of both,” Mr Anderson said, adding that the organisation’s executive had not yet settled on a timeline for the review.