ABC ‘fallen short’ on supporting staff, David Anderson says

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland, on Wednesday condemned the racial abuse directed at Grant, but wouldn’t be drawn on the board vacancies, saying: “First Nations people are encouraged to apply, and all applicants will be assessed on merit as part of the independent Nomination Panel process for ABC Board appointments”.

Grant’s exit has sparked a broader debate about the culture within the ABC after he said he felt abandoned by the broadcaster’s management, noting in a column that no one had “uttered one word of public support”.

Former ABC radio host Sami Shah, in solidarity with Grant, penned a newsletter on Sunday entitled “Aunty’s got a race problem” that excoriated the ABC for what he described as a pattern of failing to support people of colour. In one example, Shah describes being let go because of his “low ratings and replaced… with a white guy” whose even lower ratings the broadcaster tolerates.

When Shah asked a manager how they justified removing the only person of colour “on the whole floor”, he claims they replied: “It’s clear now that it was too much diversity too soon.”

Anderson publicly apologised to Grant on Sunday and has since announced there will be a review into how the ABC responded to racism. Earlier this week ABC journalists and staff rallied across the country with placards saying “I stand with Stan”.

Anderson said he took Shah’s comments “very seriously” and would investigate. He issued an invitation for anyone who had experienced racism at the ABC to “come forward, and we’ll deal with it”.

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Stevens told the Senate hearing that Grant became the face of “any and all criticism” connected with the ABC’s coronation coverage, which has drawn about 1800 complaints and triggered days of critical coverage in other media outlets, as well as a vicious social media pile-on. He said Grant had taken eight weeks leave from the broadcaster.

Stevens said the broadcaster was “operating in a new environment now, where it is out of our comfort zone at the ABC, beyond Senate estimates, to publicly defend everything that we do, and every piece of journalism that we do, such as the level of animus and criticism that our reporting draws.”

He cited coverage on Sky News where he said Grant was described as a “whiner in chief” and a headline in the Herald Sun which said “heads should roll at the ABC over coronation coverage”, adding “unfortunately for Stan he becomes the face of this when he takes part in it”.

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Stevens said the critical coverage was not limited to News Corp, and included Nine, publisher of this masthead, and said all media companies needed to come together to “figure out how we foster a kinder, fairer discourse”.

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