The BFD | Morrison Government Demands Answers From ABC Chair

The Morrison government is facing multiple challenges, both domestic and foreign. Some are “events”, as Harold MacMillan might put it, such as responding to the Wuhan plague and mostly state government actions like lockdowns. But many others are direct attacks from left-wing enemies. But while the Chinese communist regime tries to bully the government on the world stage, Morrison is also facing the perennial domestic enemy: the state-funded media.

PM Scott Morrison is taking neither lying down.

The Morrison Government has fired off a missive to ABC Chair Ita Buttrose with a litany of complaints about the Four Corners program that delved into the private lives of Cabinet ministers Christian Porter and Alan Tudge.

The letter from Communications Minister Paul Fletcher explosively accuses the ABC Board of failing to meet its duty to ensure the broadcast of “accurate and impartial” news and information according to “recognised standards of objective journalism.”

The same taxpayer-funded leftist echo-chamber that pursued a grubby smear campaign against Cardinal George Pell is similarly flinging mud at another conservative enemy.

The program by the public broadcaster’s flagship current affairs program in early November exposed a consensual affair between Mr Tudge, then human services minister, and his former media adviser, Rachelle Miller, and broadcast unfounded allegations that Mr Porter is sexist and had kissed a woman in a Canberra bar. Mr Porter has strongly denied the allegations.

Mr Fletcher’s letter to Ms Buttrose questions how the ABC complied with its duty of impartiality by only investigating the private lives of Liberal Party politicians and not delving into relationships involving Labor, Green or independent politicians.

There used to be a time when politicians’ private lives were off-limits. Even when that impacted on the governance of the nation – such as when then-Deputy Labor Leader Gareth Evans carried on an extramarital affair with the Greens’ Cheryl Kernot before the latter defected to the Labor party – plenty of journalists (especially from the ABC) reached for the smelling salts when it was exposed.

But there’s different rules when it comes to conservative politicians, obviously.

The letter formally demands the ABC Board answer why it felt it was newsworthy to broadcast a story on the “personal lives of politicians” at all.

In doing so, Mr Fletcher accuses the ABC of compromising the privacy of the Attorney-General and Minister Tudge and asks how this is consistent with the respect for privacy outlined in the ABC Code of Practice.

Pre-empting a response from the ABC, Mr Fletcher writes that if the Board claims the Ministerial Code means the topic is in the public interest, then he asks which of the conduct outlined in the program is in breach of the code?

He adds: “What is the relevance to the Ministerial Code of the allegations extensively made in the Program concerning conduct by the Attorney-General at several stages of his life before he became a Minister?”

Mr Fletcher demands a response from Ms Buttrose and the Board to 15 questions including why it was fair to accuse Mr Porter of sexism based on content when he was at school and university[…]

It also accuses the ABC of failing to follow its Code of Practice by not correcting errors, by presenting misleading information and by failing its statutory duty of impartiality[…]

The letter follows strong comments by Prime Minister Scott Morrison at the time the program aired that the ABC should uphold its charter and act in an unbiased way.

The Australian

Act in an unbiased way? Impartiality?

ABC journalists would sooner drink instant coffee.