ABC removes footage, including audio of Australian soldier, and claims they were shooting at unarmed Afghan civilians

The taxpayer-funded broadcaster has taken down a video containing audio that depicted an Australian soldier firing at unarmed Afghan civilians.

Channel 7 Spotlight reporter Liam Bartlett interviews former soldier Heston Russell on Sunday. Picture: Channel 7

The ABC is investigating how it published doctored online audio in a news report depicting an Australian soldier from November platoon as firing six shots at unarmed civilians in Afghanistan.

The ABC had reported that an Australian soldier in 2012 fired multiple shots from a helicopter at Afghan civilians.

However, Channel 7’s investigative program Spotlight on Sunday claimed that the audio accompanying the video for the ABC report included the sound of six shots rather than one. The footage with the compromised audio has now been removed by the taxpayer-funded broadcaster.

“We have removed the online video where an error has been identified, based on preliminary inspection of the audio,” a spokesman for the ABC said on Sunday.

Former commander of November platoon in Afghanistan, Mr Heston Russell, maintains the footage does not show him shooting from the helicopter.

Spotlight journalist Liam Bartlett’s report includes expert ­analysis of the ABC audio and video story, which had been led by ­journalist Mark Willacy.

In a 7.30 report shown in the Spotlight episode, Willacy tells viewers: “We don’t have the vision that comes immediately before this, but this Australian soldier is firing towards what appears to be unarmed civilians in residential compounds.”

In 2023, Mr Russell successfully sued the ABC in the Federal Court for defamation and was awarded $390,000 in damages plus legal costs over stories that included allegations regarding the death of a prisoner in Afghanistan in 2012.

In the Spotlight report, Mr Russell confirmed he shared the raw, unedited version of the footage of the military operation with the ABC before last year’s defamation trial.

“This is the exact footage that my legal team provided to the ABC and their legal team just prior to our trial when on three separate times they kept trying to rely on their truth defence, saying it was me shooting out of the helicopter,” he said on Spotlight.

“Two things: first and foremost, it’s not me; secondly, here’s the full context – they were not unarmed civilians. Even after we gave the ABC the footage, the narrative was that I was shooting at unarmed ­civilians.”

The ABC is investigating how the broadcaster published an online video that doctored a report on war crimes.

Mr Russell said the unedited footage showed one man “had literally just been on the back of a motorbike with his mate shooting at two of my teams that were on the ground”.

In the Spotlight episode, Bartlett also interviewed independent forensic audio and video expert James Raper, who reviewed the video and audio footage published by the ABC. The footage has been on the ABC website for almost two years. Mr Raper said the evidence pointed to the sounds of five gun shots being added to the published footage. “They’ve taken the audio from the six shots and applied it to this video in the news clip and they’ve copied and pasted across this scene,” he said.

“It completely misrepresents what those soldiers were going through that day. I was surprised; more than that, I was quite shocked.”

The ABC told Channel 7 on Friday it had removed the online video and inquiries were being made to what occurred when the story was compiled. “We have removed the online video where an error has been identified, based on preliminary inspection of the audio,” a spokesman said.

“The ABC is seeking more information on how this occurred.

“Jo Puccini, Mark Willacy and Josh Robertson had no role in the production and editing of the online video you have brought to our attention.

“Any suggestion that they have acted inappropriately or un­ethically is completely false.”

Puccini is the ABC’s head of investigative journalism and current affairs, Robertson is an investi­gative reporter.

Originally published as ABC removes footage, including audio of Australian soldier, and claims they were shooting at unarmed Afghan civilians