ABC did not reveal source of Tarrant remarks
The ABC failed to disclose one of its programs featuring activist Blair Cottrell drew admiring comments from Brenton Tarrant.
The ABC failed to disclose that one of its own programs featuring right-wing activist Blair Cottrell drew admiring comments from Christchurch shooter Brenton Tarrant.
On Saturday, the ABC published an extensive report about Tarrant’s support of Mr Cottrell, the leader of the far-right United Patriots Front, through comments published on social media platforms three years ago.
The report said Tarrant was “lavishing praise” on Mr Cottrell, referring to him as “Emperor”.
It featured an archive of comments from Tarrant, which were posted on the now deleted Facebook pages of the UPF and another extremist group, True Blue Crew.
“The comments give an insight, for the first time, into Tarrant’s early radical views,” according to the ABC report.
The report said Tarrant was online celebrating with Mr Cottrell and his then fellow UPF leader Tom Sewell on the night that Donald Trump was elected as US president in November 2016.
Tarrant made similar comments months earlier, when Mr Cottrell appeared on national TV, according to the Background Briefing program published on the ABC website last weekend. It didn’t name the TV program.
An ABC spokeswoman said Mr Cottrell has “made TV appearances on a range of programs and networks over the years, including Seven, Nine, the ABC and Sky News Australia”.
“It was decided not to specify any of them in this report so as not to detract from the central and very important focus of the story, that being his connections to white supremacy groups in Australia,” she said.
Mr Cottrell’s comments appeared in a two-minute segment from Triple J’s Hack Live: Aussie Patriots program, which aired on ABC2 in September 2016. It was later used on social media.
The ABC report was first posted on Saturday at 6.08am and updated at 7.21pm, according to the ABC website.
The failure to mention the program that aired the comments contrasted with a furore last year over Mr Cottrell’s appearance on Sky News, which sparked calls for it to be banned from airing in Victorian public spaces.
Sky News is broadcast on subscription television operator Foxtel, which is majority-owned by News Corp, publisher of The Australian. ABC News wrote a story on August 6 last year about Sky News Australia’s admission that it was wrong to air an interview with Mr Cottrell on TV a day earlier, following a backlash from viewers.
The online piece ran a photo of Mr Cottrell with former Northern Territory chief minister Adam Giles, who hosted a show on Sky News. It also showed tweets from Sky News news director Greg Byrnes and the public criticising the decision to show Mr Cottrell.
Three days later, Victoria’s Public Transport Minister, Jacinta Allan, directed Metro Trains to stop playing Sky News on screens at Melbourne train stations.
On August 13 last year, ABC’s Media Watch also covered Mr Cottrell’s appearance on Sky News. It began with a clip of Mr Cottrell on The Adam Giles Show, with host Paul Barry describing him as the “Hitler-loving Blair Cottrell, in probably the least-watched and most damaging interview Sky News has ever done”.
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