Media Watch looks in-house (for a change)
Media Watch presenter Jonathan Holmes
When the ABC’s Media Watch puts the boot into the national broadcaster’s flagship news and current affairs program, you know the ABC is in trouble.
Media Watch is notorious for ignoring blatant bias in ABC programs while turning its attention to often frivolous transgressions on commercial radio and TV.
But this week has seen a refreshing change, with a scathing attack on Four Corners.
In April last year, Four Corners ran a report on the Phuong Ngo/John Newman murder case that went on to win a Walkley Award.
Ngo was convicted of Mr Newman’s murder and is currently in prison.
Four Corners’ ‘The Newman Case’ argued that, for many reasons, the conviction of Vietnamese-Australian businessman Phuong Ngo for the 1994 murder of NSW state MP John Newman was unsafe.
The program led to a judicial review of the case.
That review concluded not only that Ngo’s conviction should stand, but the evidence against him was stronger than at his trial.
As Media Watch reported, the NSW Attorney-General John Hatzistergoos was scathing about Four Corners.
“Now what that program did … is seriously tarnish public confidence in the judicial process in New South Wales, attack the credibility of some very fine prosecutors and police officers, with what I believe was baseless means of being able to pursue such allegations.” ”” Radio 2GB, Mornings with Ray Hadley, 21st April, 2009
Media Watch accused Four Corners of being “misleading”, of not presenting important evidence in a balanced way, and exercising poor judgement.
“But at the heart of investigative programs like this one are innumerable decisions about what to leave in, and what to leave out – decisions that have to strive for fairness. I don’t pretend they’re easy. But I have to say, in the instances we’ve singled out, that in my opinion Four Corners judgments don’t stack up.”
Holmes provided a disclaimer in his show that he is close friends with the program’s reporter and executive producer.
Which might explain why he didn’t go in harder and criticise not just the original program but the continued unfathomable defence of it.
