Call to fix ‘broken’ ABC social media policy after Wendy Harmer Twitter spray

The ABC’s social media policy has been described as ‘broken’ after Sydney breakfast co-host Wendy Harmer used Twitter to attack the federal government.

Sydney’s ABC breakfast radio show co-host Wendy Harmer

The ABC’s social media code has been labelled “not only woefully inadequate but broken” after one of its key radio broadcasters took to Twitter on the weekend to criticise the federal government.

Wendy Harmer, who co-hosts Sydney’s ABC breakfast radio show, is the latest staff member to be accused of breaching the public broadcaster’s social media guidelines after she responded to a five-page feature about Liberal senator and Attorney-General Michaelia Cash published in the Good Weekend liftout in Nine Entertainment’s Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

On the weekend she tweeted a quote by Senator Cash included in the article: “To achieve, you work hard. To achieve more, you simply have to work harder – Michaelia Cash.”

Harmer went on to write: “This is the mantra of our present government. It’s a lie and I utterly reject it.”

It attracted more than 1200 retweets, 7000 likes and 560 comments by Sunday evening.

Former ABC 7.30 Report presenter and Liberal senator Sarah Henderson said the incident “shows the ABC’s social media code is not only woefully inadequate but broken”.

“This sort of conduct by one of the ABC’s highest-profile presenters is completely unacceptable,” she said.

“It demonstrates a shocking failure to disseminate news and information accurately and impartially, as the ABC Act demands.

“While ABC journalists or presenters should be able to post on social media like anyone else, matters concerning their work such as the sharing of news or information must comply with the ABC’s editorial guidelines.”

 

An ABC spokesman declined to comment on Ms Harmer’s tweet. Ms Henderson said the ABC must take action against Ms Harmer and “urgently fix its social media policy”. The public broadcaster’s social media guidelines published earlier this year state that employees must “be conscious of their responsibility to protect the ABC’s reputation, independence, impartiality and integrity where personal use of social media may intersect with their professional life”.

The Victorian senator said she would be asking further questions of the ABC as part of the next Senate estimates hearings, covering Ms Harmer’s online comments and issues such as procedures to review staff social media activity.

ABC managing director David Anderson was questioned at Senate estimates in early June about the social media activity of ABC employees, including Four Corners’ executive producer Sally Neighbour. Mr Anderson had previously stated that the ABC is “not editorially responsible for what our staff do on their personal social media”.

But in answers to questions on notice published almost two months after the Senate hearing, the ABC said the online behaviour of staff including Ms Neighbour was still being investigated.

Ms Neighbour’s Twitter activity was outlined in Senate estimates, including her “liking” controversial tweets that appeared to mock Christian Porter in the hours after the former Attorney-General settled his defamation matter with the broadcaster.

She also liked a post of a doctored online image of Mr Porter without any limbs.

An ABC spokesman said they had no comment regarding the investigation into Ms Neighbour’s tweets and the outcome “will remain confidential”.

“Ms Neighbour has been reminded of her obligations as per the code of conduct and social media guidelines,” he said. Communications Minister Paul Fletcher declined to comment.