In May of this year, Joe Gersh wrote about ABC Australia’s glaring anti-Israel bias:
The announcement of Josh Frydenberg’s brave and forthright Sky News documentary – Never Again: The Fight Against Antisemitism (aired on Tuesday, May 28) triggered a question for me.
Why was such an important documentary commissioned by Sky News and not our national broadcaster? Why has the ABC largely failed to cover the exponential rise in antisemitism in Australia since October 7? Why is the ABC largely silent whilst, for the first time in living memory, the viability of Jewish life in Australia is seriously under question?
In an interview with Sharri Markson on May 16, I offered a sad and damning explanation. The ABC is not part of the solution because it may well be part of the problem.
I reached this conclusion with some reluctance, having served as an ABC director (2018-2023) and as a vocal advocate for a strong and independent ABC and against calls for its defunding or privatisation.
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John Lyons is Global Affairs Editor at the ABC. His is the most frequent voice on the current Israel–Hamas war. He is an experienced and knowledgeable journalist, but also the author of a book highly critical of Israel and a monograph scathing about the leadership of the Jewish community and our advocacy group. How can he possibly be suitable to lead the ABC’s Israel–Gaza coverage, requiring as its charter does, impartiality?
Worse still, when ABC management sought to enforce its social media policy (without which editorial standards are essentially unenforceable), Lyons – in an unprofessional and disloyal manner – organised 200 of his colleagues to participate in a vote of “no confidence” in the ABC MD, David Anderson. This performative gesture was destined to be ineffective (as indeed it was) but it was indicative of the strength of his unrestrained bias, and perhaps that of many of his colleagues.
In this atmosphere, is it any wonder that our public broadcaster has been so captivated (or perhaps intimidated) by “the woke” that it cannot call out the re-emergence of an ancient hatred?
Since then, things have only gotten worse.
The ABC Ombudsman has cleared Sunday’s episode of Spicks & Specks of breaching editorial standards after a performer wore a “Free Palestine” t-shirt.
The Office of ABC Ombudsman Fiona Cameron received 42 complaints following Sunday’s episode raising the following matters:
- the artist’s t-shirt that said ‘Free Palestine’ was offensive to Jewish people and encouraged Antisemitism
- the song performed was a political protest and was not appropriate in an entertainment program
- the content indicated the ABC was biased against Israel.
Adrian Eagle performed a cover of Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive’” wearing a t-shirt that said, “Free Palestine, Free West Papua, Free Your Mind, Always Was, Always Will Be”.
He amended lyrics to “they got all their life to live, they got all their love to give, they will survive, they will survive,” raising his fist at the end of the song.
Dr David Adler, President of the Australian Jewish Association told TV Tonight, “Why the ABC should allow an overtly anti-Israel political slogan to be broadcast by a singer, is a question for its management. To do this at a time when there is a large amount of threatening activism on our streets, borders on the irresponsible. It should not be the role of the publicly-funded broadcaster to normalise and embolden such activism.”
However, the impartiality standards which apply to news and current affairs do not apply to songs broadcast on entertainment programs.
ABC Entertainment defended that Eagle was showing his support for a broad range of groups.
“Adrian is a passionate artist who is very honest in his music about the struggles he has had in life. Generally speaking, the ABC is, and should be, supportive of artists engaging in politics and activism through music and performance. As a production, we wanted to be supportive of the broad message he wanted to portray in the performance,” they said.
“We note that the political message was confined to the song performance at the end of the show, and the issues referenced during that performance (through the change of lyrics and the visual component of Adrian’s t-shirt) were not discussed during the rest of the episode. Spicks and Specks is an entertainment show with a musical theme, often incorporating musical performance either during or at the end of episodes. While we recognise that for some audience members the political content of Adrian’s performance may have been unexpected, we consider that it was consistent with Spicks and Specks‘ established support for musical performance and artistic expression and adhered to the ABC’s Editorial Policies.”
The ABC Ombudsman accepted ABC Entertainment’s proposition that the performance was a tribute to a broad group of “survivors” and did not believe the message could be reasonably interpreted as gratuitous or likely to condone or encourage prejudice.
“We understand that societal attitudes to this song’s changed lyrics and to the messages printed on the artist’s shirt are divergent, however, we hold that any harm or offence caused, can be justified by the editorial context of a music trivia program including an obligation to take risks in support of artistic expression. The broadcast of artistic expression by the ABC does not mean the ABC agrees or disagrees with a particular view,” the Ombudsman said in a statement.
If that wasn’t enough, Heather Ewart, the face of the popular ABC Australia TV program Back Roads, which tells the stories of regional Australia, was seen like this in a recent episode:
And while she did not wear it the entire episode, she chose to advertise the episode on social media with this photo:
This is all ludicrous for any organization that claims it is impartial, but even worse considering that ABC Australia is the national broadcaster of Australia, principally funded by direct grants from the Australian government and administered by a government-appointed board.
At this point in time, it seems the only difference between the ABC and the BBC is one letter.
