ABC coronation coverage to be investigated by ombudsman

The broadcaster has been deluged with more than 1000 viewer complaints, prompting the ABC ombudsman to investigate if it breached editorial standards.

ABC presenters Jeremy Fernandez and Julia Baird during the coronation coverage. Picture: ABC

The ABC ombudsman will investigate whether the national broadcaster’s controversial coverage of King Charles’s coronation breached editorial standards, after the taxpayer-funded media organisation was deluged with more than 1000 viewer complaints about the way it handled the historic event.

The ABC’s coverage was widely panned for “misreading the mood” of its audience by focusing on issues relating to colonisation, the monarchy’s damaging effect on Indigenous Australians, and the republican movement, in the lead-up to the coronation church service.

The Australian understands that while the majority of the 1000-plus objections were from viewers who simply wished to express their “dissatisfaction” with the coverage, several complaints specifically registered concerns that the ABC broadcast had breached the media giant’s editorial guidelines.

One well-placed source said more than 1000 viewer complaints about any one program was “completely unheard of”.

Formal complaints of editorial failings are automatically investigated by the ABC ombudsman’s office, which must investigate the matter and report its findings and, potentially, its recommendations to the board, chaired by Ita Buttrose.

The coronation broadcast was overseen by the ABC news division, and The Australian has been told a separate, informal review into the coverage will involve managing director David Anderson and head of news Justin Stevens.

An ABC spokesman declined to comment when asked about the internal reviews of the coverage.

But freshly departed ABC board member Joe Gersh told The Australian the public broadcaster was set to make “further commentary” in the coming weeks.

The ABC's panel during King Charles III's coronation included co-chair of the Australian Republic Movement Craig Foster, Liberal MP Julian Lesser, presenters Jeremy Fernandez and Julia Baird and Q+A host Stan Grant.

Mr Gersh, who was still working on ABC board matters right up until his term as director expired last Wednesday, said that he recognised concerns people had with the timing of the coverage.

“Management are dealing with complaints and criticisms,” he said.

“But yes, I can understand concerns about the appropriateness of the timing.”

Mr Gersh said that the debate about the future relevance of the monarch to Australia was perhaps best saved for a future debate on a show like Q+A.

“I think the debate on the republic will continue, and will be run on the ABC, with different views aired,” he said. “People do want the debate. It’s a matter of whether there and then was the right time. It certainly drew some attention. It was a judgment call.”

Former ABC board member Joe Gersh. Picture: Aaron Francis

Mr Gersh suggested that further work was underway by the ABC to examine the complaints.

“We’ll leave it to management to discuss and report on whether it was the right judgment call,” he said. “I believe there will be further commentary (from the ABC) on that in due course. There was quite a bit of criticism and complaints, and they will be dealt with.”

Another senior figure at the ABC, who asked not to be named, said that management “must get stuck into their own review” — separate to the investigations being undertaken by the ombudsman.

But whatever recommendations are made to the board by the ombudsman, any changes to the editorial direction of the ABC ultimately rest with is managing director, Mr Anderson, who also acts as the broadcaster’s editor-in-chief.

It is expected that Mr Anderson will be grilled on the issue of the ABC’s coronation coverage when he faces a Senate Estimates hearing later this month.

The Australian Monarchist League has also been vocal in its criticism; last week, the group launched an online petition for an apology from the ABC for its “biased” coverage of King Charles’s coronation, while also demanding an independent inquiry into the national broadcaster’s “hijacking” of the historic occasion.

One of the major headaches for the ABC is that a very large part of its audience respects the monarchy and its traditions.

Talkback callers on ABC Radio last week decried the “appalling” timing of the panel’s discussion about the damaging legacies of the institution, although a great number acknowledged that such matters were legitimate topics, albeit for another point in the broadcaster’s schedule.

The prospect of multiple investigations and reviews into the coronation affair comes as the ABC is preparing to announce a raft of redundancies across the organisation as part of a restructure that will see the broadcaster streamline its nationwide divisions into two categories, news and content.

“Non-news content” — namely entertainment programs and local/regional offerings — will be absorbed into the new, stand-alone “content” division.

Mr Anderson emailed staff last Thursday to inform them of the restructure, and disclosing that the process would result in redundancies.

While he did not specify how many, The Australian has been told it is likely to be in the vicinity of 100.

The ABC currently has 4213 employees, according to last week’s federal budget papers.