With the announced axing of the ABC Fact Check unit yesterday, there has been some much needed condemnation from segments of the commentariat and the polity.
Over at Fairfax, Michael Lallo penned a thoughtful piece labelling the axing a “disgrace” and arguing that Australia needs it now more than ever:
The axing of ABC’s fact-checking unit is a disgrace.
In an era of shrinking newsrooms, breathless reporting, and “hot takes”, we need it more than ever.
One problem is its name: Fact Check. This has allowed the ABC’s enemies to take cheap shots…
Fact Check was a new, stand-alone division. Not a central bureau. The idea of a giant in-tray – in which reporters plonk their stories, then wait for an over-worked researcher to verify them – is comical. People who peddle this rubbish know it’s wrong. But hey: another chance to whack the ABC!..
Fact Check was created in 2013, with a small staff, two months before the federal election. It exists to determine the accuracy of things politicians say – and advocacy groups, and other public figures…
Fact Check is a headache for everyone it scrutinises. Especially politicians…
Hang on. Shouldn’t this be the bread and butter of our daily media?…
Every media outlet is getting hungrier, with fewer journalists to feed the beast. Those who remain must juggle more tasks.
Scrutinising the throwaway claims of politicians often takes a lot of effort, and a lot of time…
At a recent Senate estimates hearing, ABC officials confirmed politicians have made formal and informal complaints about these verdicts. Though none were upheld.
Now, Fact Check, as we know it, is dead.
Independent Senator, Nick Xenophon, is also “outraged”:
Independent Senator Nick Xenophon said he was shocked at the closure “because it contradicts what the ABC told a Senate Estimates Committee hearing” earlier this month.
“I wonder whether the ABC Fact Check Unit has been the sacrificial lamb for the ABC to appease the Government,” Senator Xenophon said…
He described the ABC Fact Check Unit as “so important and the budget is so small – it is less than half of one per cent of the ABC news budget. It’s a very cheap insurance premium to keep pollies in check.”
“I’m quite outraged and I think a lot of Australians will be outraged,” Senator Xenophon said.
With Fact Check disappearing it will obviously reduce scrutiny of Australia’s politicians, thereby making it even easier for them to lie to the public.
We should all be outraged.
