The managing director of the ABC, David Anderson, has defended Stan Grant from what he says was an “unfair attack” published on the front page of the Australian that was “not in the public interest”.
The article in the Murdoch broadsheet on Tuesday said ABC management had investigated what it claimed was a “public bullying incident” involving Grant and a senior ABC colleague in the foyer of the ABC’s Sydney headquarters.
“I am happy to defend Stan right now,” Anderson said on ABC Melbourne radio in response to a question from Virginia Trioli. “He should be judged on his journalism; he should be judged on his contribution to Australian media.
“I can’t control what the Australian writes; I can disagree with what they write and their focus.”
Grant told Guardian Australia on Tuesday that the story was an “outrageous slur” which was part of a pattern of abuse from the Murdoch press and the ABC should have rushed to his defence. “All I know is that if somebody in these circumstances had been smeared in a paper in a disgraceful way, I’d be picking up the phone to every radio station and howling down the phone,” Grant said.
The Guardian understands the ABC did not issue a statement about the article because the two parties involved could not agree on a form of words about the January incident.
No formal complaint was made by the other ABC staff member, but it is understood they were distressed by the confrontation in which Grant swore at them and remain upset. Grant told the Guardian that he “lost it” with the colleague and later said he “should have behaved better.”
Two days after the article appeared, Anderson said he agrees with Grant that the story “about an altercation in the Ultimo foyer” was an internal matter involving two staff members. He agreed that the Indigenous journalist and author was subjected to unfair attention in the press.
“I don’t see it as being in the public interest,” Anderson said. “Nor do I think it should be something that everyone is talking about. I think that it’s an internal matter and needs to be dealt with as such.”
The Australian has been approached for comment.
Anderson apologised again for not supporting the former host of Q+A after racist attacks in the wake of the king’s coronation coverage forced him to step down from hosting the program.
Grant characterised the Ultimo incident, in a post on LinkedIn, as an “unfortunate disagreement with a respected colleague”.
“This incident was resolved and no finding or sanction against any party”.
“I was deep in conversation in the ABC foyer with a friend and colleague who was consoling me over the sudden death of my niece 24 hours earlier,” Grant wrote.
“I had also just returned from caring for my elderly ailing father. I was in an emotionally fragile state ... Things escalated in a way they should not and things were said that were not acceptable. I accept responsibility for this. I should have behaved better.”
He reserved his harshest words for his former employer. “The ABC typically has failed to tell the truth,” he said. “Instead it is hiding behind bureaucracy. The ABC crafted a statement which I rejected. I believe the truth is more important.”
Last week Grant announced he had walked away from the ABC and the media after four decades because he wants to change the toxic global news culture by working on something constructive.
“I’ll be working out of Monash University in a dual role as professor of journalism and director of the Constructive Institute,” Grant told Guardian Australia.
“I think I have something to teach people about this. I’ve been in the crosshairs of the worst of our cultural pile-ons. And I think we can all learn, including me, we can all learn how to do this better.”
Anderson was interviewed by Trioli after she announced she would be leaving ABC Radio after four years hosting Melbourne’s morning show to front a prime-time TV arts program.
