ABC makes changes to social media rules for staff
ABC management have warned staff about their behaviour on social media after a ‘few high-profile defamation cases’ | NEW GUIDELINES
ABC staff have been sent a stern warning about social media behaviour after the public broadcaster conceded it has been forced to deal with a “few high-profile defamation cases” involving senior journalists.
The ABC has been plagued by problems with editorial staff sharing, “liking” posts or making comments online and staff have now been instructed that if they breach the new guidelines, they could face termination.
Three senior ABC journalists, Four Corners’ executive producer Sally Neighbour, the program’s investigative reporter Louise Milligan and political journalist Laura Tingle, are among those who have been under scrutiny in the past year for their online posts.
An email from managing director David Anderson on Monday notified staff about the updated guidelines on social media use. “As you may be aware, recently there have been a few high-profile defamation cases where public figures have chosen to sue over personal social media posts,” he said.
“What is separately created and posted on personal social media accounts is editorially and legally the responsibility of the owner of the accounts.”
He goes on to highlight three things staff should do with their social media accounts:
● Don’t have any reference to the ABC in your handle or username.
● Have a disclaimer making it clear that posts or likes are your personal view and do not represent the views of the ABC.
● Make sure you follow the personal use of the updated social media guidelines.
In the broadcaster’s guidelines – which have been updated twice this year – it removed reference to workers disclosing their connection to the ABC and any reference to live tweeting about breaking news events.
Former ABC 7.30 Report presenter and Liberal senator Sarah Henderson – who questioned Mr Anderson at Senate estimates earlier this year – said their social media policy remains “a mess”.
“It is a farce to suggest the ABC has no editorial or legal responsibility for the personal social media posts of high-profile ABC journalists and presenters,” she said. “Why then is it paying the legal fees of Louise Milligan, who posted alleged defamatory material on her personal Twitter account about Andrew Laming?
“It is also a farce to suggest that including a disclaimer or removing an ABC logo will fix anything.”
Liberal MP Mr Laming launched defamation action against Milligan in June for a series of tweets she posted that he claims “irrevocably” damaged his “personal and professional reputation”.
The ABC confirmed they were funding Milligan’s legal costs, engaging an external legal firm, Bird and Bird, to represent her.
Federal Court documents claim Milligan made a series of tweets on March 28 relating to Mr Laming after 29-year-old Crystal White accused him of taking a photo of her while she was bent over at a Brisbane landscaping business in 2019, which showed her underwear beneath her shorts.
Queensland police later cleared Mr Laming over the allegations and court documents said Milligan deleted the posts but did not offer an apology to the Queensland MP.
Neighbour was also caught up in controversy after she liked a series of tweets including some that mocked former attorney-general Christian Porter in the hours after his defamation case was settled with the broadcaster.
She also liked a post of a doctored online image of Mr Porter without any limbs.
The ABC recently said the matter was still under investigation and the outcome “will remain confidential”.
And Tingle tweeted a comment last year referring to Scott Morrison as “smug” and complaining about “government ideological bastardry”.
Mr Anderson said “the primary concern is when personal social media activity reflects badly on the ABC’s independence and integrity, or when a poorly judged post or series of posts or ‘likes’ compromise perceptions of the impartiality of someone in an ABC role where maintaining impartiality in the public eye is crucial”.
The ABC managing director has come under intense scrutiny over the broadcaster’s social media guidelines in recent months and was grilled at Senate estimates in early June.
He declared at the hearing that the ABC was “not editorially responsible for (the staff’s) personal social media”.
The ABC declined to comment on Monday.
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