Report: Ita defends Four Corners in response to Fletcher
ABC Chair reportedly rejected all 15 questions posed to ABC Board by Communications Minister.
- Published by David Knox
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- Filed under News
Ita Buttrose yesterday responded to a letter from Minister Paul Fletcher who sent the ABC board 15 questions about the Four Corners episode, Inside the Canberra Bubble.
The Guardian reports she rejected all 15 questions and corrected some assertions made by Fletcher and accused the government of a pattern of behaviour which “smacks of political interference.”
Buttrose says she was disappointed the minister for communications posted on Twitter a letter to her before she had a chance to read it, and says it is the third time this year “your correspondence to the ABC has been publicly revealed before I had been given the courtesy of reading it”.
The reply says while the ABC Act requires the ABC board to ensure that the gathering and presentation of news is accurate and impartial it also requires the board to “maintain the independence and integrity of the corporation”.
“This board takes both of these responsibilities most seriously,” Buttrose noted.
On Sunday Fletcher was asked by Insiders if he would reveal the contents of her letter, which he did not indicate, and whether he was planning to sack Buttrose from her role.
“Ita Buttrose is a very experienced media figure and I do have confidence in the way that she is operating in her role,” Fletcher said.
“I certainly have no intention of sacking the chair of the ABC. She does an important job.”
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5 Responses
Spot on CJ couldn’t have said it any better myself. Leave my ABC alone
With the speed of the news cycle, the 4 Corners story would have been forgotten within a day or two. Fletcher has successfully kept it in the news for weeks now.
This Govt have been bullying & interfering with the ABC since Abbott. He stacked the Board with all his mates & Ita was hand picked by the PM.
I beseech this Administration and any Government to interfere. When the Australian worker and taxpayer is footing the expense of its “operations”, the Government in my estimation has the right to interfere and examine their “operations”, particularly when it involves editorial policy.
er … the ABC Board is selected by an independent panel established by the ALP’s Stephen Conroy and currently chaired by Dr Sally Pitkin … the Chairman of the ABC is always “hand picked by the PM” irrespective of whether it’s Liberal of Labor in government …