'Distressed' ABC presenter Emma Alberici quits TV over censorship claims
High-profile ABC broadcaster Emma Alberici has vowed she will never host a TV program again after settling a dispute with the national broadcaster.
Ms Alberici, who was most recently employed as the ABC's chief economics correspondent, has been at loggerheads with management for more than two years.
In 2018, Ms Alberici's bosses briefly removed an online analysis she had written about proposed corporate tax cuts, before editing and republishing the piece – leading to claims the ABC had kowtowed to pressure from then-prime minister Malcolm Turnbull and his Coalition government.
On Friday, The Australian published leaked correspondence from Ms Alberici's lawyer Chris McArdle, reportedly sent to ABC's managing director David Anderson in July.
"[Gaven Morris, ABC's director of news, analysis and investigations] has complained to our client that she is the cause of the 'prime minister ringing him' with complaints," Mr McArdle claimed in the letter.
"That, of course, is worrying. It should not be that the prime minister is permitted to ring Mr Morris to make this or that demand as to its editorial content. The ABC must be independent. The only real contact with the prime minister should be the chairperson."
Mr McArdle told this masthead he was "stumped" by the leak.
"I don't know whose interest it was in to have that stuff [released to media] the day after we did a deal," he said. "Emma is very distressed by what has been done to her but she has now settled her dispute and it's over. She was unhappy with the past but she is happy with the present and she embraces the future."
Emma Alberici posted on Twitter that it was "too painful to be in the public eye".Credit:ABC
On Friday, Ms Alberici addressed the matter on Twitter.
"It is true that the ABC and I reached an agreement yesterday," Ms Alberici posted. "After 18 years of loyal service, including as one of the country's first mother foreign correspondents (with three kids under three) I am no longer employed by them.
"Despite the enormous toll his actions have taken on my mental health, Gaven Morris wanted to call it a termination payout, no doubt so he could tell the world I was fired for incompetence or some such. To be crystal clear: I have never coveted the camera. I will no longer be on TV and will not accept any role if it's offered. It is too painful to be in the public eye. For further removal of doubt, I have been made no offers from anyone in the media."
Responding to a tweet in which Ms Alberici claimed she had been bullied, Mr Turnbull wrote: "Pointing out factual errors in a journalist's work is not bullying – and even more so when the errors were later acknowledged. It is a pity publication of your lawyer's letter revived this issue as it distracts from your many achievements.
"The claim that I called Morris about Emma is denied both by me and the ABC. As to her 14 Feb 2018 article on tax, it was full of errors, confused basic accounting concepts and was widely and publicly criticised including by me in the House.
"The 14 Feb article's errors were later acknowledged by the ABC. Its publication showed a failure in, or bypassing of, the editorial process at the ABC. With so much fact free propaganda posing as 'news', the need for the ABC to be accurate & objective is greater than ever."
An ABC spokesman firmly denied Ms Alberici's claims of improper editorial interference.
"The allegation that former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull made a phone call to ABC director news Gaven Morris on any matter is incorrect," the spokesman said. "The ABC has no further comment to make."
While Mr Turnbull and senior members of his cabinet lodged complaints about Ms Alberici's reporting in 2018, claiming some of her articles contained errors and were misleading, Mr Turnbull insists he never called Mr Morris about her work.
Sources at the ABC – who spoke on the condition of anonymity given the confidential nature of the legal settlement – claimed Ms Alberici had been offered other roles during the past two years, including hosting a late news bulletin on ABC's main channel and a job on Foreign Correspondent.
In February 2018, ABC's Media Watch program reported on the dispute, which was triggered by two articles from Ms Alberici that contained criticisms of the government's proposal to lower the corporate tax rate.
"The problem there according to the ABC – and we have to agree – was it overstepped the ABC's rigid guidelines on analysis and opinion, which remarkably ban reporters from expressing opinions," said the program's host Paul Barry, querying why these alleged editorial breaches were not detected before the articles were published.
ABC sources say that Mr Morris raised concerns about one story less than two hours after it was published – before any complaints from external parties were received.
The sources also denied claims that Ms Alberici had been subject to undue pressure or censorship regarding her coverage of the National Broadband Network.
In June, Ms Alberici took action against the ABC through the Fair Work Commission, resulting in both parties reaching a settlement this week. Ms Alberici is now working on a memoir.
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