ABC News Director Justin Stevens has issued a statement in support of Tony Armstrong one day after the ABC presenter copped racist attacks on social media.
On Wednesday, Armstrong shared screenshots of comments and direct messages he received on Instagram in which he was called hateful and inflammatory racial slurs.
The abuse came a day after the ABC aired an episode of Media Watch which scrutinised Armstrong’s voiceover work outside of the ABC, and in the same week the broadcaster faced criticism following the results of an independent review into workplace racism.
In his statement condemning the “despicable” hate levelled against Armstrong, Stevens said the abuse was especially disappointing in light of the ABC racism report.
“I am dismayed that within 24 hours of that important report I’m issuing a statement to publicly call out more racist abuse by members of the public directed at one of the ABC’s highly valued staff members, who also happens to be Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander,” Stevens said.
He went on to describe Armstrong — who departs from his role as a sports presenter on News Breakfast this Friday — as one of the “ABC’s best and most talented presenters”, adding that the broadcaster definitively “stands by Tony and will not tolerate any racist abuse”.
Stevens said the details of the racist attacks have been “logged” by the ABC, and that a complaint was made “regarding the moderation of the comments”.
He referred to a similar incident Armstrong endured in 2022, when a racist email he received was referred by the ABC to the police.
Elsewhere in the statement, Stevens addressed the role the media plays in fostering “this kind of behaviour in the community,” saying racial attacks like those on Armstrong are “often fed by the inflammatory nature of mainstream media coverage”.
“The prominence of stories, tone of headlines and copy, photos run and selection of story angles can foster division and outright hate,” Stevens added.
The News Director later said while the ABC is “rightly subject to appropriate scrutiny”, the media coverage of certain staff members is at times “unsettling” and has “real impacts”.
Addressing both the racist abuse and the independent report, Armstrong said in an interview with ABC’s Sammy J on Thursday that he hopes the results of the racism review will catalyse “more diverse boards and leadership”.
“It’s pretty tough for some Indigenous talent when they get on air because they get unfairly targeted and are victims of online abuse,” Armstrong said.
Lead image: James Gourley/Getty Images
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