You’d have to be living under a rock not to be aware of the OVERT bias exhibited by the ABC. Despite it running counter to the ABC charter, it chooses to hold a position on certain areas of public policy (refugees, climate, gay marriage etc) and its always and exclusively a left of centre position.
What is more disturbing is the way they use COVERT bias to promote their position via proxies and third parties. That is, the selection of guests for interview without informing the listener or the viewer of the background of the guest.
Over the last few weeks, with the Greens, the climate catastrophists and the enviro-vandals/usual suspects being on the losing end of the Adani coal mine debate, the ABC is now focusing on Adani as a corporation and its suitability to hold the mining licence and wheeling out “expert” opinion from august sounding bodies and instrumentalities to help prosecute the case.
For example as noted by Graham Lloyd in The Australian earlier this earlier this week the ABC quoted lawyer Ariane Wilkinson. What they DIDN’T declare is that Wilkinson is linked with Environmental Justice Australia.
Lloyd also noted that another expert opinion was sought from Tim Buckley. Buckley was casually introduced as a director at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analytics. Sounds neutral, benign and impressive enough but again the ABC DIDN’T declare that Buckley is also a climate change activist. So what do you think he’s going to say? What angles and arguments is he going to pursue?
The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, itself is a self-declared renewable energy advocacy outfit whose work on Adani was commissioned by Greenpeace can you believe and the institute’s mission statement is “accelerating the transition to a diverse, sustainable and profitable energy economy”.
No bias, nothing to see here, move along.
Then there’s another ABC favourite go to guy, former advertising guru Geoffrey Cousins, a long-time and fierce environmental campaigner and president of the Australian Conservation Foundation.
The foregoing examples of covert bias by the ABC is to give some context to the two letters below in today’s Australian.
“…That’s just what the ABC needed for Christmas, Matt Canavan — calling out its leftist bias rather than pussy-footing around (“ABC ‘using fake news’ on Adani”, 23/12). Whatever the specifics of the Adani coal-mining case, there is no mystery as to how ABC bias works. It does not have to be nasty; it simply calls in the predictable leftist commentariat which gives the usual green-left take on any issue, from mining to marriage.
Often it trips over itself in its ideological zeal, beginning its invariably negative Coalition stories with a Labor or Greens “rebuttal” before the government claim has been aired. Bad practice at any time, it becomes even worse over the Christmas-new year period, when it’s open slather for Greens’ talking points and beat-ups..”
Brenton Minge, Cannon Hill, Qld
“..True to form, the ABC has come out with resurrected allegations regarding Adani’s interests in India with the intent to destroy the development of the Carmichael coal mine. These allegations are designed to assist activists who, having delayed the project for seven years by legal and environmental obstructionism, now seek to paint Adani as unsuitable to run the project. Federal and Queensland governments which, having all approvals in place, now face the prospect of further delays and the prospect of losing 10,000 jobs plus the spin-are old reports to suit the Greens who will stop at nothing to destroy the coal industry in pursuit of ideological objectives..”
Michael Wills, Armadale, Vic