ABC of getting things wrong
If it ever got them, the ABC clearly has forgotten the lessons of Hillary Clinton’s “deplorables” insult that helped derail her “unlosable” election to the benefit of Donald Trump in 2016. The domestic equivalent was the ABC’s complete misreading of the rise of Pauline Hanson, blaming the politician for her base of supporters that it did not recognise or respect. The bewildered loathing of Middle America in Four Corners’ appraisal of Fox News is simply the latest in a long list of misjudgments that have trashed reputations and put the public broadcaster completely at odds with the views, aims and aspirations of the mainstream.
These failings expose a blunt political radar that explains why, despite an unparalleled news-gathering footprint and $1bn a year in public funding, the ABC consistently is able to get it so wrong when it comes to predicting what is actually going to happen in the real world come election time. It is a curse that misread the prospects of Bill Shorten, underestimated the appeal of John Howard and goes all the way back to a misguided adulation of Gough Whitlam. Resonance with Mrs Clinton’s deplorables view explains why, like many in the media, the ABC missed the coming of Mr Trump. As Chris Kenny wrote on Tuesday, the ABC’s indulgence is “anti-journalism – leftist activists crusading in crass, partisan attempts to silence any journalists who refuse to toe the progressive line – all done at taxpayers’ expense”.
A defective political antenna, untuned to the concerns of the populace and realities of commercial life, also explains how the ABC misled itself on Fox News. Four Corners wants viewers to believe Fox News created the Trump army and harnessed the Trump presidency for commercial gain. The truth is the disaffected centre was always there with legitimate concerns that had been overlooked and ignored by media elites who did not share their life experiences. Fox News achieved commercial success long before Mr Trump arrived on the scene. The cable network became profitable in the Bush era, increased its profitability throughout the Obama presidency and continues to prosper with Joe Biden in the White House.
Having started with a fundamental misreading of what Fox News is and where it came from, it is little wonder that Four Corners was unable to appreciate the inconsistencies and incoherence of its two-part program that sought to paint Fox as a co-conspirator with Mr Trump in attempts to undermine US democracy. The Four Corners case against Fox News as a creator of Mr Trump unravels when presenter Sarah Ferguson describes Rupert Murdoch as being “the former Trump sceptic” before the businessman won the Republican presidential nomination.
Objectivity explains why Fox News was the first network to call the critical state of Arizona for Mr Biden and, by the ABC’s own admission, there was no pressure to change the call despite Mr Trump’s displeasure. Objectivity also explains why Fox reported claims being made by Trump team lawyers Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani about challenges they were making to the election result in the courts. And it explains how the network’s star commentator, Tucker Carlson, was free to broadcast: “She (Powell) never demonstrated that a single actual vote was moved illegitimately by software from one candidate to another, not one.”
So, in the end, Four Corners is left with a story about a media organisation that represents the views of a wide audience, dares to broadcast unpopular arguments when they are brought in the context of legal action, and is prepared to reject them as bunkum when the facts don’t stack up. The ABC has a lot to learn from this approach. Instead, the public broadcaster has followed a now familiar pattern of making unsubstantiated allegations against senior public figures such as George Pell, Christian Porter and former NSW Labor premier Neville Wran. In each case, having relied on dodgy reporting using dubious sources, the ABC has walked away claiming victory against the evidence.
Having been called out on naming Wran in a $2m documentary in relation to the 1979 ghost train fire at Sydney’s Luna Park, ABC management has refused to accept the verdict of an independent review by respected journalists that the program overstepped the mark. The ABC has failed in its analysis of Fox News, just as it has failed in its reporting on Cardinal Pell, Mr Porter and Wran. The common link is campaign journalism lacking professional oversight by a credible editor-in-chief.
