Board ‘must act on ABC editorial failures’, says David Hill

Former ABC chairman David Hill has savaged ABC management’s response to an external review of its Luna Park ghost train fire documentary.

Former ABC boss David Hill.

Former ABC chairman and managing director David Hill has savaged ABC management’s response to an external review of its Luna Park ghost train fire documentary and urged the board to intervene to ensure editorial policies still apply.

Mr Hill was stunned to see ABC director of news Gaven Morris say he was “proud” of the documentary and not concede any failings, even though allegations that former premier Neville Wran acted corruptly and socialised with mobster Abe Saffron were found not to be substantiated by the review.

“It is totally unacceptable for management to make the statement that it did in response to the review,” Mr Hill told The Australian. “This is a serious state of affairs that has to be resolved and it can only be resolved by the board.

“It is an unacceptable situation where on one hand you have an independent review of the program which said it was deficient and on the other hand you have the management of the ABC defending the program and making no concession that it failed.”

Mr Hill, a former adviser to Wran, said Exposed: The Ghost Train Fire clearly breached editorial policies that go to accuracy and fairness.

“We, the public, who support the ABC deserve to have this clarified and this must be done by the board,” he said. “The cornerstone of ABC news is accuracy. But it seems you can have one set of policies for those who are living and one set of policies for those who are dead. It is totally unacceptable to make the most outrageous claims without satisfying if they are accurate.”

Bob Carr, a minister in the Wran government and later NSW premier, called for the documentary to be immediately removed from the ABC’s online platforms and also urged the board to ensure editorial standards were being upheld by journalists.

“The ABC needs to consider how a program could convict Wran of consorting with a gangster and doing him favours without any evidence other than a patently false, totally unconvincing and entirely off the cuff allegation by someone who had been an employee of this known underworld figure,” Mr Carr said.

“The ABC board should debate whether it should have put to air, as part of a $2m program, a drawn-out demonisation of Wran based on a flimsy flighty allegation by so unconvincing a source.

“It should be shamefacedly removed from their website. An apology to his family and his memory is warranted.”

An editorial review undertaken by investigative journalist Chris Masters and Sydney University professor Rod Tiffen found the ABC did not substantiate any allegations Wran was corrupt, yet Mr Morris did not accept any failings and praised the team led by journalists Caro Meldrum-Hanna and Patrick Begley.

Milton Cockburn, a former editor of The Sydney Morning Herald and an adviser to Wran, had his complaint dismissed by the ABC. He said the ABC board must clarify editorial policies in light of the highly critical review.

“If the ABC still defends the program’s journalism, it must be prepared to hand over to the NSW police, as requested, the unedited interview tapes, including interviews which did not go to air.

“Until it does so, people are ­entitled to draw the conclusion that the ABC has something to hide.”