Fox calls for inquiry into ABC’s ‘Big Lie’

Fox News has called for an independent external review, labelling the program ‘indefensible’ and ‘a gross distortion of the truth’.

Ita Buttrose. Picture: Richard Dobson

Fox News has called for an independent external review into the ABC’s two-part Four Corners ­series, labelling the program ­“indefensible” and “a gross distortion of the truth” after it falsely blamed Rupert Murdoch for ­Donald Trump’s refusal to ­accept his electoral defeat.

Fox News’s general counsel Bernard Gugar has written a second legal letter to the ABC’s chair Ita Buttrose and managing director David Anderson in just two weeks, outlining many errors strewn throughout the two-part series and aired on the public broadcaster’s flagship investigative program.

It is understood the letter, which was also sent to the media watchdog, the Australian Communications and Media Authority, outlined in detail critical information Fox made available to the ABC before the two-part series went to air but the ABC ­ignored

The calls for an external ­review of the Four Corners series would be similar to what occurred with the ABC’s recent independent inquiry into Exposed: The Ghost Train Fire, which was ordered by the ABC board and conducted by investigative journalist Chris Masters and University of Sydney professor Rod Tiffen.

Titled Fox and the Big Lie, the program was led by ABC journalist Sarah Ferguson and attempted to smear the Murdoch-controlled broadcaster with false claims that tilted the debate in one direction – against Fox News.

The 27-page letter argues the series was an attack on the US broadcaster that breached the ABC’s Code of Practice, which clearly states it must “ensure that the gathering and presentation by the corporation of news and ­information is accurate and ­impartial according to the recognised standards of objective journalism”.

Mr Gugar wrote that the ABC’s attack on Fox News was “indefensible and cannot stand”.

“The episodes flout the letter and the spirit of the Australian Broadcasting Code of Practice and run afoul of the federal parliament’s primary standards for the ABC,” he said.