The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has found the Four Corners episode ‘Water Grab’ from August 2024 breached the accuracy and impartiality provisions in the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Code of Practice.The ACMA found that the program about water usage in the Northern Territory inaccurately conveyed that a Northern Territory pastoral station had illegally used a fire to clear land for cotton production without approval to do so.
The ACMA investigation found the ABC did not have sufficient evidence to make this assertion and did not make reasonable efforts to verify it.
ACMA Chair Nerida O’Loughlin said current affairs programs must adequately check the veracity of facts they cover before going to air.
“The ABC should have stopped to consider whether it had sufficient supporting evidence to include the statement about the fire,” Ms O’Loughlin said.
“This type of assertion can have a significant adverse effect on the reputations of those involved, so reasonable efforts must be made to ensure any claims are accurate and presented in context.”
“Australians expect rigorous, fair and factual reporting on complex and contested public issues. Our view is that parts of the program did not meet the ABC’s own standards for accuracy and impartiality,” Ms O’Loughlin said.
Given the complexity of the scientific and technical subject matter, the ACMA undertook a thorough and comprehensive investigation considering all the material issues.
In its assessment the ACMA found that the episode’s omissions of credible, alternative scientific perspectives limited the audience’s ability to weigh competing evidence and therefore also breached the ABC’s obligations to present principal relevant viewpoints.
The ABC will publish an editor’s note and clarification about the ACMA’s breach finding. The ABC has also increased its accuracy and impartiality training for news journalists in response to the ACMA’s finding and will develop advanced training for managers of investigations.
Source: ACMA
Edited ABC response: This story broadcast on August 19 2024 examined the role of the NT Government in facilitating water licenses for the growing of cotton, particularly in the area near Mataranka Springs and Elsey Creek. The program was subject to a complaint to the ACMA, which concluded that the program unduly favoured the perspectives of two environmental scientists and did not adequately inform the audience of the existence of alternative scientific perspectives about the causes of changes to Mataranka groundwater levels and the water quality at Elsey Creek. The ACMA also concluded that the description of a fire at Claravale station amounted to an allegation of illegal land clearing. The ACMA concluded that the factual assertion conveyed by the relevant statement was not accurate. The ABC accepts that the statement should have been qualified but does not accept that the statement has been shown to be inaccurate.
Source: ABC website
Source: ACMA
The ABC’s response is quite disappointing. On many occasions the ABC has backed ACMA in its watch dog duties. However, time and again, when the ACMA rules against the ABC, it arrogantly digs its heels in and says the ACMA is wrong.
Beef Central reviewed a book several years ago written by Grahame Webb ( owner of Crocodylus park in Darwin and an acknowledged expert on crocodile ecology ) called “ wildlife conservation : the belly of the beast “
He spoke of his concerns around biopolitics , environmentalism and conservation
Do the ABC ,the Guardian and other media provide objective and even-handed journalism on environmental issues?
I suggest they “frame“ the issue from their too often skewed and biased beliefs
e.g. The guardian talks now of global boiling not warming when the temperature has only risen a little if any
And “the warmest on record“ when our instrumental record is regarded as too short to indicate past climatic variations
e.g. The Brisbane floods of 1730’s may have been higher than the record 1841 flood
The last interglacial period of 125 k years ago seems to have had sea levels 5-10 meters higher than now and temperatures several degrees higher than now
This past interglacial period is probably the only equivalent period we can compare our present interglacial period with
Do we see these facts included in the too often biased media articles from sources we used to rely on?
And our climate had been drying out for a long time now as seen by the dominance of eucalypts in our landscape
Four Corners began life as a truthful and accurate critique of a range of issues, but was later hijacked by the Greens and animal libbers to the point where it is now not worth watching. From a must watch to a don’t bother in about 20 years and all funded by you and me.