crunchysteve

First, I need to declare a connection. I used to work for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, first in the Hobart Newsroom, later in the Melbourne Newsroom. I've been retired for a few months more than a decade, but while editorial policy seems to have changed a little, and not really in fundamental principles of independence and avoidance of bias, the legislation that founded the ABC, the Broadcasting Act, and the Charter, remain unchanged, so I am qualified to comment on ABC News' coverage of the...

Lets call it the "American Situation."

The US is in the midst of possibly the most serious constitutional crisis in the nation's entire history. What Trump and Musk are doing is unprecedented. Unreasonably so. Placing themselves superior to the courts and Congress is not reasonable - in the legal sense of "reasonable." It has always been an expectation of the Constitution, that the President and their Cabinet are cogs in a legal mechanism, that have a role of oversight and agenda setting, but they cannot dictate law in any absolute sense. The US principle is the courts, congress and senate work hand in hand with the administration in the Whitehouse. Trump and his snivelling lapDOGE are in breach of all constitutional convention, not just the codified stuff, but the history of court interpretation. These are not "reasonable" times. There is no way to report on these circumstances "reasonably," because the circumstances are the very definition of unreasonable - they defy reason in the very legal meaning of the term.

So, dear "Aunty" colleagues, stop trying to be unbiased on the subject. The US Constitutional Crisis is not reasonable, it is unfathomable. Stop trying to give "both sides" ~ Australian news services never reported on Hitler in "reasonable terms," never put 2 sides to that story, not because propaganda was part of the war effort, but because journalists who covered WWII in Europe could see it was not the will of the German people, it was the will of a cadre of barely lawfully incumbent fanatics. Just like the USA today.

It is fair of the ABC to write of the US in terms of unconstitutional governance. It's still reasonable to not refer to it as "fascism" yet, but it is totally reasonable to call it out for the "constitutional crisis" it is. It would be totally reasonable to show contempt for this President on the principles of "without fear or favour" as per the wording of the ABC's Charter, the principle, guiding appendix to the Broadcasting Act that guides ABC Editorial Policy daily.

It is in the interest of the Australian people to know this isn't business as usual, and why it isn't. It is in no way disrespectful to an ally to ask hard questions of that ally's system when bad stuff is happening. There is no bias inherent in calling this a constitutional crisis. In the Australian context, when Malcolm Fraser requested the Governor General sack Australia's Prime Minister, 50 years ago this November, the ABC had no compunction calling that a constitutional crisis - and the Governor General has the authority under The Crown to do so, for less than an impasse over a Supply Bill.

Would "Aunty" have the honesty and integrity to do so today. I wonder. Probably not, considering how pissweak they're being about it in another country, where accusations of bias would only come from fawning Musk fanbois. and the Coalition parties, who hate the ABC for its lack of bias, anyway.

Call the situation in the USA what it is, at the very least, a constitutional crisis, if not a full coup d'etat. It possibly isn't yet the latter, but it's not far from it, and this also needs to be pointed out in reporting. This is possibly the most serious crisis in the history of human civilisation if only for there being the US capability to potentially end human civilisation if the tools are placed in the wrong hands.

Dear Australian Broadcasting Corporation, "without fear or favour" means "TELL IT LIKE IT FUCKING IS!"