The ABC has withdrawn a further two episodes by sacked Four Corners reporter Mahmood Fazal and edited another due to concerns about anonymous interviewees.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Fazal’s employment was terminated in May after an ABC investigation<\/a> into his appearance on a podcast with a former underworld figure last year, ABC managing director Hugh Marks confirmed at a Senate estimates hearing in May.<\/p>\n Since then, two episodes he reported for Four Corners, titled Cocaine Nation and Meth Highway, have been removed by the ABC due to accuracy concerns. A Background Briefing audio program he reported, titled Remy was 12 when she became a drug dealer, was also removed later in July.<\/p>\n In a statement, the ABC said it had completed a review of anonymous interviewees in all stories reported by Fazal for the two programs, which identified concerns with three more programs.\u00a0<\/p>\n “The review found that in each of these cases, ABC verification policies concerning the use of anonymous interviewees were not followed to a level that meets our editorial standards,” the statement said.\u00a0<\/p>\n “Therefore, in order to ensure complete confidence in published content, we have taken the decision to remove them.”<\/p>\n