{"id":573510,"date":"2026-03-30T05:06:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T05:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/573510\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T05:06:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T05:06:09","slug":"four-corners-breaches-abc-code-of-practice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/573510\/","title":{"rendered":"Four Corners breaches ABC Code of Practice"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\t\t\t\tACMA finds a 2024 episode breached accuracy and impartiality -which contrasts somewhat to the findings of the ABC Ombudsman.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

A 2024 Four Corners episode \u2018Water Grab\u2019 has breached the ABC Code of Practice over accuracy and impartiality.<\/p>\n

The Australian Communications and Media Authority found that the August 2024 episode by reporter Angus Grigg 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.<\/p>\n

The ACMA investigation found the ABC did not have sufficient evidence to make this assertion and did not make reasonable efforts to verify it.<\/p>\n

Given the complexity of the scientific and technical subject matter, the ACMA undertook a thorough and comprehensive investigation considering all the material issues.<\/p>\n

In its assessment the ACMA found that the episode\u2019s omissions of credible, alternative scientific perspectives limited the audience\u2019s ability to weigh competing evidence and therefore also breached the ABC\u2019s obligations to present principal relevant viewpoints.<\/p>\n

The finding somewhat contrasts the ABC Ombudsman\u2019s finding<\/a> from October 2024 that the episode did not breach the ABC\u2019s editorial standards for accuracy and privacy (but a breach on impartiality).<\/p>\n

ACMA Chair Nerida O\u2019Loughlin said, \u201cThe ABC should have stopped to consider whether it had sufficient supporting evidence to include the statement about the fire.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAustralians 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\u2019s own standards for accuracy and impartiality.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ABC will publish an editor\u2019s note and clarification about the ACMA\u2019s breach finding. The ABC has also increased its accuracy and impartiality training for news journalists in response to the ACMA\u2019s finding and will develop advanced training for managers of investigations.<\/p>\n

Updated: In a statement ABC said, \u201cThis story broadcast on August 19 2024 examined the role of the Northern Territory 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 Australian Media and Communications Authority (ACMA). The ACMA 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. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe ABC accepts that the statement should have been qualified but does not accept that the statement has been shown to be inaccurate.\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ACMA finds a 2024 episode breached accuracy and impartiality -which contrasts somewhat to the findings of the ABC…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":573511,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[64,63,134,427],"class_list":["post-573510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=573510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573510\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/573511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=573510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=573510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=573510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}