Media Watch slams ABC over war crimes blunders
On Monday night, Media Watch concluded that the public broadcaster’s mistakes around war crimes had cost the ABC its “trusted reputation”.
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The ABC’s flagship Media Watch program has taken a swipe at the public broadcaster over its recent war crime reporting blunders, claiming the saga had cost its “trusted reputation”.
It comes after the ABC launched an independent investigation into revelations a story from journalist Mark Willacy in 2022 had extra gunshots added to the helmet cam footage.
Media Watch fill-in host Janine Perrett also confirmed the investigation would look into claims by retired DEA leader Bret Hamilton that he was misrepresented in an interview with the ABC.
Mr Hamilton recently told The Daily Telegraph that his “sound bite had been manipulated” and a general comment about war crimes was made to look like he was calling for a specific investigation into Australian troops.
On Friday, ABC managing director David Anderson confirmed a story from two years ago was removed online due to an “editing error”. It was the helicopter vision in this story that Channel 7’s Spotlight recently revealed contained additional gunshots.
Mr Anderson said: “In November 2022, ABC legal was sent a letter raising concerns about the audio editing. Regrettably, at no point was this letter or the information in this letter disseminated to ABC news.”
Media Watch host Perrett described the legal letter debacle as “embarrassing” before concluding the external inquiry would “not only provide answers, but also some accountability”.
“This hasn’t just cost the ABC plenty of money, but also its trusted reputation,” Perrett stated.
She also revealed Media Watch had alerted ABC management to the November 2022 legal letter on Friday, which prompted Mr Anderson to launch the investigation six hours later.
The new criticism, from inside the walls of the ABC, is the latest blow in this long-running saga, which cost taxpayers almost $3 million in legal fees after the public broadcaster lost a defamation case against retired Special Forces Commander Heston Russell.
In a new statement, ABC News told Media Watch it “has no evidence that reporter Mark Willacy directed anyone to change the audio on the (helicopter) video and to imply otherwise is false”.
“Mark Willacy categorically denies any allegation that he directed or authorised any change to the audio in his story,” it added.
Originally published as Media Watch slams ABC over war crimes blunders
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