WTM - ABA Ruling Against ABC-TV ‘Four Corners’

ABA RULING AGAINST
ABC-TV FOUR CORNERS

Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA)—media watchdog

Numerous appeals are made by the FHA prior to the 1995 publication of the ABC-TV Four Corners program, including a (19/4/95) half-page advertisement ‘open letter’ in The Australian to ABC managing director, Brian Johns; and a (18/4/95) separate letter from supportive parents of university students/ members.
Further detailed complaints follow the publications.
A complaint is initially filed with the ABC’s Independent Complaints Review Panel.
On 23 September 1996 the FHA lodges a 900-page submission with the ABA.

On 4 February 1998 the ABA finds ABC-TV Four Corners program ‘Prophet of Oz’ ‘inaccurate, unbalanced and partial’.
After a two year investigation the ‘ABA concluded that the program was not balanced in its presentation of the experience of parents of Foundation members. The ABA also concluded that the program was inaccurate in its representation of Mr Griffith and inaccurate and lacked balance in its representation of Mr Tim Macartney-Snape’.
This ruling against the ABC is the strongest ruling the ABA had made to date.
The ABA ruling receives some publicity in The Australian (6/3/98) and multi-page feature articles on the FHA appear in both The Bulletin magazine (21/4/98) and The Weekend Australian (9/5/98).

On 8 July 1998 the ABA take the unprecedented step of recommending to the ABC that it is ‘appropriate for it to apologise’ to the FHA.
The ABC refuses to apologise despite not exercising its right to challenge the ruling.

On 13 November 1998 Professor Birch writes to the ABA saying ‘I consider it would be the only right thing for the ABC to admit the bias of the Four Corners program and to apologise for its mistake.’
The ABC remains intransigent and continues to defend the program, and as a result defamation action is commenced by the FHA.