ABC issues extraordinary apology over Alice Springs stories

National broadcaster issues extraordinary apology for airing multiple reports from Alice Springs involving claims of ‘white supremacy’.

ABC managing director David Anderson and Chair Ita Buttrose. Picture by Ryan Osland

The ABC has issued an extraordinary apology for airing multiple reports on Tuesday claiming there were displays of “white supremacy” at an Alice Springs community meeting.

Since the airing of the broadcasts on Tuesday, pressure has been growing on chair Ita Buttrose and managing director David Anderson – both who have remained silent – despite widespread outrage from the Alice Springs community and political leaders.

On Friday the ABC published an apology and said “ABC news management takes responsibility” for the reports that were broadcast on its AM radio program and Newsradio that provided “an incomplete picture of the event”.

“On January 31, the program broadcast a report gathered the previous evening on a community meeting held in Alice Springs to discuss the recent upsurge in violence and to discuss compensation and solutions,” the apology said.

“The report included the views of some people who attended the community meeting and their immediate reaction.

“Those views were reported accurately.

“However, this report should have included a broader range of perspectives expressed at the meeting and further information about what was discussed, to provide additional context.”

The public broadcaster went on to say: “ABC News apologises to audiences for providing an incomplete picture of the event in this instance.

“Following this report, ABC News published additional coverage of the issue which included a broader range of perspectives and context”.

The AM report remains available online but now includes an editor’s note and links to additional coverage on the issues in Alice Springs.

The ABC’s news division is led by Justin Stevens who was appointed to the role in March last year.

Multiple sources who attended the Alice Springs forum rejected the suggestions made in the reports compiled by its indigenous affairs reporter and included commentary from attendees.

In one of the reports the ABC reporter said, “People were leaving early and streaming out of that Convention Centre in Alice Springs … one resident who was non-indigenous said the meeting was, quote ‘a disgusting display of white supremacy.”

Alice Springs Mayor Matt Paterson. Picture: Kevin Farmer

The extraordinary apology comes just three days after the ABC stood by the reports and the media team published a statement that read: “Many strong and conflicting views are expressed within the community, including some that are confronting and the news coverage reflects that and doesn’t shy away from it”.

On Thursday Alice Springs mayor Matt Paterson demanded Ms Buttrose retract the stories referencing the claims of white supremacy and he has since refused to do interviews with the ABC’s national division – not ABC’s Alice Springs bureau.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton also urged Ms Buttrose to address the “rubbish” reporting on the issues in Alice Springs and said the stories were “doing a disservice to everybody in that local community”.

Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson – the opposition communications spokeswoman – tweeted on Saturday that it was a “belated apology” from the ABC in relation to its “shockingly biased reporting”.

She went on to say: “It reflects very poorly on editor in chief, MD David Anderson”.

Senator Henderson will be lodging a complaint about the ABC’s conduct with the media regulator, the Australian Communications and Media Authority.

And hats off to ABC Indigenous Affairs Corro @Williams__Carly who’s been doing a cracking job of covering all angles of what’s happening in Alice.

It’s a tough assignment, and Carly has brought nuance and a range of perspectives. https://t.co/kITqIvUzf7

— Dan Bourchier (@Dan_Bourchier) January 30, 2023

The ABC also aired controversial comments on its political chat show The Drum on Wednesday evening by the ­associate dean of Indigenous leadership and engagement at the University of Technology Sydney, Nareen Young, who compared the Alice Springs meeting to the 1988 movie Mississippi Burning.

The film is based on the disappearance of three civil rights workers who are met with hostility by police, residents and the Ku Klux Klan.

“I think the elephant in the room … when I watched that footage of the town meeting that was held … is that if you saw that room in Mississippi Burning for example, Australians would say, ‘How terrible, that’s terrible that happens there,” Professor Young said on the program.

“The vitriol and racism and lack of regard and respect for those people on their land while those people were living off the bounty of it was appalling.”

The show’s host, John Barron, did not challenge Prof Young on her comments.