ABC ombudsman clears 7.30 host Sarah Ferguson of breaching impartiality rules in an interview with an IDF spokesman

The host of ABC’s 7.30 program has been cleared of bias during an interview with an Israel Defence Forces spokesman about the World Central Kitchen aid worker deaths.

The ABC ombudsman has supported comments made by 7.30 host Sarah Ferguson in an interview with an Israel Defence Forces spokesman, where she rejected claims the killings of World Central Kitchen aid workers were a “mistake”.

The public broadcaster received 52 complaints about the 11-minute television interview with Ferguson that aired on the ABC’s flagship political program on April 8.

During the interview, Ferguson told IDF spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner that she did not accept that seven aid worker deaths, including Australian Lalzawmi (Zomi) Frankcom were unintentional. 

Ombudsman Fiona Cameron’s report, published on Monday, outlined that she received complaints that Ferguson’s interview was “biased against Israel” and made claims she was “persisting with questions as to whether the IDF attack on the World Central Kitchen aid convoy amounted to a war crime”.

In the interview, Mr Lerner said that “there can be mistakes in the state of war in a condition of war, this is clearly a mistake.

“We’ve taken responsibility for the mistake.”

Ferguson concluded the interview by stating: “Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner, I’m not accepting your view that it’s a mistake, there’s a lot further to go on this story, but thank you very much indeed for joining us”.

Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner is interviewed by 7.30 host Sarah Ferguson on April 8. Picture: ABC

The ombudsman reviewed the complaints against the ABC’s editorial standards for impartiality and said Ferguson had a duty to conduct a testing interview that does not allow the interviewee to use the occasion as a political platform.

“It is her duty to put other points of view to the interviewee and her responsibility to interject and make reasonable efforts to ensure that the questions that were asked are being answered,” the ombudsman said.

The review into the deaths - published on April 5 - found there were serious errors and also breaches of procedure by Israel’s military, and it resulted in two senior officers being dismissed and other senior commanders being reprimanded.

In the ombudsman’s report the 7.30 program said Ferguson’s concluding statement that she did not accept Mr Lerner’s view the deaths were a “mistake” was “to signal that the characterisations (“mistake”, “tragedy”) were inadequate to the significance of the event, and we would continue to seek further explanation.

“The presenter sometimes uses the first person to challenge interviewers who are not answering, the “I” is intended to be the presenter speaking on behalf of the program.”

Ms Cameron found that although “the first-person language may have given rise to the impression or perception that the comment was a personal opinion of the presenter” she was “satisfied that the remarks sought to qualify that concluding the attack was a “mistake” was premature given the ongoing investigation.”

The investigation found the report did not breach the ABC’s impartiality standards.

The Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Peter Wertheim rejected the findings in the report and said it was a “shameless and overt interpolation of her personal opinion.”

“The ombudsman’s response does not properly address the complaints,” he said.

“Sarah Ferguson is one of the most experienced and astute of the ABC’s presenters, and she knew full well what she was doing.

“She was determined to play the role of judge and jury and to convey to the audience that the deaths of the aid workers was a war crime, even though the full circumstances concerning the incident remain under investigation.”