The ABC has apologised and admitted it misled audiences over a story that claimed animals rights activists had complained about farmers swearing at sheep.
The story has been pulled from its website and apologies issued after Peta (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) complained the story was inaccurate, triggering an internal investigation.
The story, broadcast by an ABC rural reporter, Cherie von Hörchner, in May, claimed Peta had complained about sheep being sworn at on Boorungie station and quoted the owner saying the basis of the concerns was that the sheep might be able to understand bad language being said in front of them.
Peta objected when other details of its complaint were left out of the broadcast.
Its original complaint detailed abuse against sheep which included shearers punching sheep in the face, punching a lamb in the torso, stamping and standing on sheep’s heads and necks, striking the animals with a pipe and electric clippers until they bled, picking up one sheep by the hind legs and throwing her head first through a gate, and crudely stitching large wounds without any pain relief.
An internal investigation by the ABC found the stories were “not in keeping with its standards for accuracy” and the ABC issued a clarification saying the story was “misleading and inaccurate”.
“It was frustrating to see a story cut out all the details of physical abuse, including that sheep were punched in the face, stamped on, cut open with clippers and crudely stitched up without painkillers,” Peta Australia’s director of campaigns, Jason Baker, said.
“We are grateful to the ABC for finally revealing how sheep suffer and are deliberately injured in Australian shearing sheds.”
The ABC’s audience and consumer affairs found the ABC did not provide adequate context in its original report and presented content in a way that could mislead.
“Due to a lack of context, and the undue prominence given to the claims of a farmer, the stories would reasonably lead audience members to believe that verbal abuse claims were central to Peta’s complaint against the sheep station – which was demonstrably not the case,” a statement on the ABC website says.
The ABC was also criticised for not taking any action after three complaints from Peta.
The ABC rural online article was removed from the ABC website, and an on-air acknowledgment of the inaccuracy was broadcast on The Country Hour and Rural Report editions that ran the original story.
ABC management originally stood by the report.
“ABC rural management has reviewed the story and does not agree that the approach taken was ‘sensationalist’,” an ABC spokeswoman said in May.
“The story references other forms of abuse to offer context to the suggestion of verbal abuse. It is this angle that other media sources have chosen to focus on.”
