Morrison government asks ABC to please explain controversial Four Corners episode
Federal Communications Minister Paul Fletcher has asked ABC chair Ita Buttrose to explain how a recent Four Corners episode exposing alleged affairs by between ministers and staffers was in the public interest.
In a letter to Ms Buttrose, Mr Fletcher posed a series of questions to the ABC board requesting an explanation as to how the episode complied with the ABC's Code of Practice and its statutory obligations to provide accurate and impartial journalism.
Communications Minister Paul Fletcher has asked the chair of the ABC board, Ita Buttrose, to explain a controversial Four Corners episode.Credit:SMH
The 15 questions included, "Why, in the judgement of the Board, are the personal lives of politicians newsworthy."
The ABC episode, titled "Inside the Canberra Bubble", which aired on November 9, detailed allegations of affairs by Attorney-General Christian Porter and Population Minister Alan Tudge with female ministerial staffers.
ABC sources said that Mr Fletcher had decided to make his letter public during the broadcaster's board meeting.
The episode featured former staffer Rachelle Miller revealing an affair she had had with Mr Tudge in 2017, while working as his media adviser. Mr Tudge responded to the Four Corners report by expressing regret at the hurt he caused his family and Ms Miller.
The episode also aired allegations that Mr Porter had been seen by witnesses "cuddling and kissing" a female Liberal staffer at Public Bar in Canberra. It also alleged that one witness was a public servant who used a journalist's phone to photograph the incident.
Mr Porter has denied the allegations in the episode.
In the letter, Mr Fletcher asks the ABC Board whether they considered it consistent with the "duty of accuracy and impartiality" to that the program failed to report that "the woman the subject of the alleged incident in the Public Bar and the subject of the alleged relationship with the Attorney General denied both these allegations to those preparing the program".
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Lisa Visentin is a federal political reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, covering education and communications.
Zoe Samios is a media and telecommunications reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.