An ABC radio report about an Alice Springs town meeting breached impartiality and accuracy standards, an ombudsman report has found.
The report was the first to be handed down by ABC ombudsman Fiona Cameron since the office was created last year.
The radio report, which was broadcast on the ABC's AM program on January 31, said hundreds of people had gathered in Alice Springs for a town hall meeting about violence issues, when thousands were in attendance.
The report also included comments from one attendee that the meeting contained elements of "white supremacy" in action.
"On review of the perspectives included in the report, it is considered that the report presented one critical perspective on the event, that it was racist, without identifying the range of other concerns and issues expressed by attendees," the ombudsman said in the report.
"The ombudsman considers that this had the effect of unduly favouring one perspective over all others."
ABC managing director David Anderson was quizzed on the radio story during a Senate estimates hearing on Tuesday.
"I agree with that assessment (of the ombudsman on impartiality), given the subject matter we were dealing with," he said.
"The accuracy (breach) was with regard to, I think, the report initially talked about hundreds of people (at the meeting) rather than thousands."
The ombudsman found no breaches with other stories on the town meeting filed by the reporter for other ABC platforms, including online and the 7pm TV news bulletin.
Mr Anderson told the hearing there had been 19 complaints made about the radio story.
The managing director also admitted internal procedures had missed the mark before the story went to air.
"While I think an error was made with regard to (the reporting), I do think that the systems and processes we have in place failed in that those checks and measures did not pick up an issue with that story before it was included in the AM package," he said.
"Our systems and processes have also let the (the reporter) down - I think that certainly the reporter's endeavours were true."
