The ABC has defended an “outstanding piece of journalism” on flagship investigative program Four Corners after getting a slapdown from the media watchdog over its report ‘Fox and the Big Lie’.
The double episode which aired in 2021 examined the role of Murdoch-owned Fox in legitimising Donald Trump’s claims that the presidential election was stolen from him.
Fox made a formal complaint to the Australian Communications and Media Authority about the reports presented by award-winning journalist Sarah Ferguson.
After a year-long investigation, the ACMA said the ABC had breached its own Code of Practice requiring “accuracy” and “fair and honest dealing”.
However, the ACMA’s overall assessment was that the program came close to, but did not breach, the high bar set by the “impartiality standards” in the ABC’s Code.
The ABC issued a response saying it “stands by the journalism in the program and the team who produced it”.
‘Misled audience’
The ACMA said the ABC had misled the audience by omitting “relevant contextual information”.
“In one case, the ABC reported the appearance of two Fox presenters at a 2018 Trump rally without disclosing that Fox had issued a public statement censuring the two presenters,” said an ACMA media release.
“This omission left it open to viewers to conclude that Fox News had either endorsed or at least did not object to the appearances.
“In a further omission of relevant facts, the ABC also failed to report on the role social media played in inciting the Capitol Hill riots.”
ACMA Chair Nerida O’Loughlin said the ABC had an obligation to present facts accurately and in context.
“By omitting key information, the ABC did not give its audience the opportunity to make up their own minds about Fox News,” Ms O’Loughlin said.
The ACMA also found that in approaching a Fox News host for an interview, the ABC did not appropriately inform her about the nature of her participation in the program as required by its code of practice.
“Both audiences and participants are entitled to the full picture. In this case, by omitting information the ABC did not do justice to the story or provide all relevant facts to its audience,” Ms O’Loughlin said.
“Current affairs programs such as Four Corners are not precluded from presenting a particular perspective on an issue or reaching a particular conclusion.
“But that needs to be balanced against requirements to gather and present information with due impartiality.
“The ACMA considers that ABC could have taken greater care in striking that balance in this program to avoid perceptions of partiality,” Ms O’Loughlin said.
In a statement on Thursday, Fox News said it was “pleased with the findings of the Australian Communications and Media Authority that the ABC engaged in multiple breaches of its own code of practice relating to accuracy and fair and honest dealing”.
“[This] ruling confirms Fox News Media’s view that the central premise of the Four Corners two-part program was built on a foundation of patent bias and lack of impartiality and was then laden with basic factual errors, uncorrected even after FoxNews Media presented contradictory evidence,” a spokesperson said.
ABC stands by report
The ABC said Fox and the Big Lie was an example of the ABC’s commitment to “high quality reporting on key topical issues of great interest to Australians”.
“While the ACMA investigation rejected most of the wide-ranging complaints made by Fox News, it has made three findings that the ABC has consistently disagreed with during the course of the ACMA’s investigation,” said a statement.
“The ABC has considered the findings and has serious concerns that the ACMA’s interpretation of the ABC’s Code of Practice will have negative consequences for the future production of strong public interest journalism.
“The ABC believes that some subjective elements of the ACMA report and media release are inconsistent with the established approach to accuracy and fairness under the Code and may place undue pressure on content makers when selecting an editorial focus, for fear of a potential breach.
“The ABC further believes this contradicts the express direction in the Code, that the standards are to be applied in ways that “do not unduly constrain journalistic enquiry”.
“The ABC is also deeply concerned at the ACMA’s subjective characterisation of the program, and whether this aligns with its statutory role to review compliance with the ABC Code of Practice.”
