The government inquiry into Zaky Mallah’s appearance on Q&A is a politicised, entirely inappropriate move which undermines the independence of the public broadcaster, ABC staff say.
“The unprecedented political attacks on the ABC are both disturbing and distressing,” ABC union delegates said in an open letter to the ABC board late Friday.
“Intemperate language for short-term political gain has already prompted security concerns for staff and has dragged debate down to an unseemly low level.”
ABC offices were in lockdown on Friday after the ABC received threatening, abusive phone calls among the 1,000 calls made by the public about the Q&A episode.
“Security has been stepped up at major ABC offices across Australia as a precautionary measure to protect the welfare of staff,” a spokesman said. “There have been a number of threatening phone calls.”
On Thursday Tony Abbott criticised the ABC for rebroadcasting the episode of Q&A after it had apologised for allowing Mallah to ask a question.
The prime minister said the federal Department of Communications would hold its own inquiry into the decision making behind Mallah’s appearance on the ABC, on top of the external review announced by the broadcaster on Tuesday.
“They [ABC] compounded the mistake by rebroadcasting the program,” Abbott said. “Now, frankly, heads should roll over this.”
On Friday Bill Shorten criticised Abbott for his call for sackings. “I think you and I and most Australians know that Tony Abbott overreached with those sort of sentiments. I think if he had his time again Mr Abbott wouldn’t use such clumsy language.”
Shorten said: “ABC’s Q&A show got it wrong when they put that fellow on TV and gave him a platform for some of his views. That was a mistake, no ifs, no buts. I do wonder why some of the other networks are also giving this fellow air time. If it was wrong to do it on the ABC, I’m not sure what the case is to give him further platforms.
“But beyond that, the ABC is independent of government. It is not a propaganda arm of government. So whilst I think it is right to be critical of the Q&A audience proposals and who they put in the audience I am not satisfied that it warrants the full-on attack against the independence of the ABC.”
But Julie Bishop, the foreign minister, said ABC’s inclusion of Mallah on the program “runs counter to all that we are seeking to do to protect Australians from terrorism and it runs counter to our programs to deradicalise young people and counter violent extremism.”
Bishop accepted it was up to the ABC to decide on what action should be taken as a result. “But I think the Australian public would expect something to occur as a result of this grave error of judgment that the ABC has acknowledged.”
The letter from ABC staff says: “For the government to institute a politicised inquiry smacks of an attempt to intervene and influence editorial decisions.
“This is entirely inappropriate and undermines the proper role of a public broadcaster in our democracy.”
ABC staff are deeply concerned that Abbott has called for people to lose their jobs over the incident and say there are no grounds for the Department of Communications to carry out an inquiry at the direction of the minister.
The communications minister, Malcolm Turnbull, has said Q&A made an “extraordinary error of judgment”.
The letter was drafted by members of the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance house committee on Friday afternoon, attended by staff around the country. All ABC staff will be urged to sign it.
This week’s attacks on the ABC were the most serious political interference at the public broadcaster since 1991 when the then prime minister Bob Hawke said the ABC’s Gulf War coverage was “loaded, biased and disgraceful”, ABC staff told the meeting.
The letter welcomed Scott’s strong speech on the importance of the independence of the public broadcaster but is not without criticism of his handling of the matter in the immediate aftermath. Many staff are critical of the fact that Scott apologised before consulting staff or holding an internal inquiry.
“Furthermore, we are deeply concerned that an admission of error was issued by ABC management without first consulting the editorial staff involved,” the letter says.
“Concerns raised about last Monday’s broadcast should be dealt with through the established appropriate channels.”
They also urged Scott to support the staff at Q&A “who have demonstrated sound editorial judgments over many years”.
“Q&A has developed a strong and unique position in Australia’s media landscape. It attracts a large audience, promotes healthy debate and discussion, and often breaks new angles on important topics of concern.
“It is not uncommon for broadcasts with live studio audiences to cause controversy. It is not possible to control what people say in those situations. Nor, indeed, is that necessarily desirable.
“We trust our audiences to come to informed views about anything they see and hear in a broadcast. And we back the work of our colleagues in managing those broadcasts.”
ABC staff are feeling the heat from the unprecedented attacks on them by the government and the News Corp press this week.
Former ABC journalist Sarah Henderson, now a federal Liberal MP, called for the sacking of Q&A’s executive producer Peter McEvoy for the “grave error”.
One news reporter said on Twitter she had been called “lefty scum” on the street by a member of the public, echoing what Abbott reportedly said in private on Tuesday.
“Someone just told me I was ‘lefty scum’ as I got onto my train at Central,” ABC reporter Lucy Carter said. “Had my ABC pass still on. Wow.”
Someone just told me I was 'lefty scum' as I got onto my train at Central. Had my ABC pass still on. Wow.
— Lucy Carter (@lucethoughts) June 26, 2015
The Department of Communications said the inquiry would look into the context in which Mallah appeared on Q&A, including his previous engagement with the ABC; the decision-making process for his appearance; the protocols that were used in regard to physical security for the live broadcast; the decision-making process for the subsequent repeat broadcast of the Q&A episode; and the extent to which existing broadcasting codes apply.
