Andrew L. Urban
At least one media outlet is doing decent journalism, properly scrutinising the progress of the Royal Commission into Antisemitism, calling out a missed opportunity to perform open heart surgery on ABC’s overt antisemitism. Quadrant’s Sharon Kuperholz details how.
“Monitoring the ABC misinformation is an overwhelming and never ending job,” writes Sharon Kuperholz. “And the Royal Commission appears now to have wasted the opportunity to focus on the ABC’s violations, seemingly accepting that the mere existence of editorial guidelines means they are and will be observed and honoured.
“After watching the RC’s counsels-assisting quiz Gavin Fang and ABC Ombudsman Fiona Cameron on nothing more challenging than their job descriptions, policies, procedures and guidelines, I felt cheated that there had been no queries concerning the dozens of blatantly inaccurate, biased and deceptive articles that falsely portray Israel as committing genocide, war crimes, infanticide and even creating a famine. Even though our group, and many others, submitted dozens of examples of properly supported case studies of the ABC’s fake news, Fang was never required to answer for them. Full disclosure: I am one of the four anonymous authors of the ABC Misinformation Reports*, Part 1 and Part 2.”
Kuperholz cites a recent example of ABC antisemitic tendency:
” … the ABC presented as fact a tally of dead alleged journalists compiled by Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate (PJS) in Gaza, operating under and as an arm of Hamas, and subsequently parroted by an unquestioning International Federation of Journalists(IFJ). The claim is that “268 journalists and media workers” have been killed in the current conflict. Here’s how, gratuitously in the context of a report on a Victorian employment-law court case, the ABC slipped in Hamas’ propaganda, attributing the claim not directly to Hamas but two sympathetic groups:
At least 268 journalists and media workers have been killed in the war in Gaza since October 7, 2023, according to the International Federation of Journalists, an independent organisation that promotes press freedom.
The Gaza Ministry of Health estimates more than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed, including more than 1,000 since the beginning of the ceasefire in October.”
But, claims Kuperholz, “This report was published precisely one day after Fang’s appearance at the Royal Commission, where he referred straight-faced to the importance of verification, attribution and accuracy.”
The article actively hides the original source, with the ABC overstating the number by 140%. ” As cited, the number of dead journalists is straight-up Hamas propaganda and includes at least 157 dead Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade and other assorted terrorists. That’s 60% of the 268 ‘journalists’ ABC quotes. The figures I’m using are from the publicly accessible, Amit Terrorism and Intelligence Research Institute, which lists each of the 157 names and which terror organisation they belonged to with full supporting evidence.
“I strongly disagree with Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism Jillian Segal, who grants the ABC the benefit of the doubt and does not see the mistakes as intentional. To my mind, repeating the same mistake is evidence of — take your pick! — ideological intention or reckless incompetence.”
Commenting on the Kuperholz article, Dr Gary Johns writes: “Bravo, Sharon! I am not at all confident that the Royal Commission will recommend anything other than that the government throw more money at ‘ethnic’ leaders, i.e. feeding the multicultural beast.”
*An extract from the Executive Summary of Part 1 gives a taste of the dossier’s work:
“It begins by analysing three central narratives repeatedly constructed, amplified, and normalised by the ABC. The “famine” narrative is characterised by the repeated use of distressing imagery of children with severe pre-existing genetic or medical conditions, falsely presented as victims of starvation caused by Israel, despite available medical explanations and the presence of healthy family members.
“The “baby killers” narrative includes the uncritical broadcast of a UN claim, promoted as “shocking news”, that
14,000 babies would die within 48 hours, a figure that is mathematically impossible, as well as demonstrably false claims that Israeli forces executed a ten-year-old boy, despite evidence held by the ABC that the child was alive.
“This narrative is further reinforced through the repeated emotional framing of casualty figures, with the ABC consistently asserting that most victims are women and children while systematically marginalising independent analyses and Israeli assessments indicating that the figures are manipulated and include combatants. The “genocide” narrative is illustrated by the declaration that Israel is “committing genocide” by an unvetted, pay-to-join activist group portrayed as “the world’s leading genocide scholars.” The cases presented in this dossier represent only a small, illustrative sample of a far broader and consistent pattern of false and damaging reporting.”
The dossier offers readers an opportunity to weigh the ABC’s claims against the ABC’s actions.
For example:
“Searching the term “genocide” on the ABC website after 7 October 2023 returns more than a thousand results. As demonstrated in this dossier, these claims have no factual basis. However, the scale of this propaganda has created an environment that contributed to social radicalisation and the escalation of militant antisemitism across Australia. The normalisation of unproven genocide allegations has created an environment in which Jews who support Israel are routinely demonised and marginalised.”
But there is so much more; the Royal Commission would be well advised to ingest this 2-part dossier if it hasn’t already. Sadly, it reveals how much worse ABC antisemitic bias is than its day-to-day critics think.