ABC to review style on ‘terrorist’

Despite claims by the ABC that there is no “palpable bias” in its reporting of the Middle East, the national broadcaster has agreed to review its style guide, which currently advises its journalists that “one person’s terrorist is usually someone else’s freedom fighter”.

Cartoon from a previous AJN article

In November last year, Senator Michael Ronaldson asked the ABC to respond to a series of questions relating to its Middle East reporting. The Victorian Liberal asked the ABC if it acknowledged that in refusing to label groups such as Hamas as terrorists, they were making value judgements.

The ABC responded by saying it “rejects any suggestion that its programs in any way suggest that ‘killing Israelis is somehow less reprehensible than killing others’”.

In its response, the ABC also stated that it has a focus upon reporting news “fairly, accurately and impartially” and that its use of the word “terror” is not out of step with broad community standards.

Although the ABC continues to insist that its reporting is impartial, it agreed in a Senate Estimates Committee inquiry on Monday to review its style guide and “everything in it will be part of that revision”. It did however state that a review is a normal procedure every few years.

A spokesperson for Senator Ronaldson said that these efforts by the ABC are “too little, too late” and Senator Ronaldson has issued a “call to action”, asking concerned community members to let the ABC know that people are concerned about the current directive on the use of the term “terrorism”.