7.30: On Monday 7.30 reported a story about the declining use of cash and efforts to ensure it remains a payment option. The story incorrectly referred to Mr Russell Broadbent as a “Nationals MP”. Mr Broadbent is an Independent MP. The video and digital versions of the story have been corrected.
ABC News South Australia: On Wednesday 20 November, ABC News published a story about SA Health no longer partnering with charities run by Plymouth Brethren Christian Church. The original story failed to include comments made by SA Education Minister Blair Boyer on 19 November on ABC Adelaide that, while OneSchoolGlobal had been referred to the Education Standards Board, the Board had since reached the view there are currently no grounds to take further action. The story has been updated to reflected these comments and an editors note has been added.
ABC News: On the 24th of November a radio news story about the methanol poisoning of Holly Bowles and Bianca Jones incorrectly stated they had died from methadone poisoning.
News online: On October 19, a digital article on indirect deaths in the Gaza war originally paraphrased a letter to the Lancet medical journal, saying its authors estimated there had been 186,000 direct and indirect deaths in the Gaza war by June 2024. The Lancet letter in fact estimated there could ultimately be 186,000 direct and indirect deaths, based on direct death numbers reported in June 2024. The article was amended.
News Online, News Channel and AM: On the 25th of November stories about Australian student, Ranem Abu Izneid being injured in an Israeli Border Police operation misidentified the location of the apartment she was in at the time of the incident. The stories stated the Border Police were involved in an incident ‘outside’’ or ‘a few doors down’ from her building. It was instead 200 meters down that street. The video stories have been deleted from Youtube, and the online story has been amended, with an Editor’s Note added to it and the AM web page.
ABC Landline: The ABC News website published an article on 11 September 2024 regarding Australia’s peak farming body, the National Farmers Federation trying to stop members commenting on a possible link between the herbicide paraquat and Parkinson’s Disease as broadcast on Landline on 1 September 2024. As part of normal editorial processes, in the interests of clarity a line in the article was amended to include ‘paraquat’s connection to Parkinson’s’. This change was reflected in an Editor’s Note attached to the article.
News: On Saturday 9 November TV News broadcast a story on the violence on the streets of Amsterdam following a football match between the Israeli team, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Dutch team, Ajax. It included vision supplied by an independent news agency that purported to show Maccabi supporters being attacked. The ABC has been subsequently informed by the agency that the description of the vision was incorrect. The ABC has removed the story from its platforms.
ABC News: Several news stories across NewsRadio and triple j on 2 November reported that US presidential candidate Donald Trump had suggested former congresswoman Liz Cheney should be "put before a firing squad" or "have guns trained on her face and be shot". While the stories included audio of Trump saying "She's a radical war hawk. Let's put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, OK?", they did not include the full context of Trump's remarks, which would have made it clear he was criticising Cheney's alleged willingness to send Americans to war zones rather than advocating violence against her: "You know, they're all war hawks when they're sitting in Washington in a nice building, saying, 'Oh, gee, well, let's send, let's send 10,000 troops right into the mouth of the enemy'."
In September 2024 the ABC commissioned an independent review into concerns raised over three related stories published in September 2022, known as the ‘Line of Fire’ stories (one online article and two 7.30 stories), which investigated activities by Australian commandos during a 2012 deployment in Afghanistan. The review investigated how editing errors introduced additional gunshot sounds into a video embedded in an online article and used during part one of the 7.30 broadcast. It also investigated allegations that in part two of the 7.30 broadcast one quote from an interview with former DEA team leader Bret Hamilton was edited out of context.
The review found that in the 56 second video clip in the online article five additional sounds of gunshots were inadvertently but inaccurately introduced into footage showing a commando firing a single shot from a helicopter. The review found additional sounds of gunshots were also inadvertently but inaccurately introduced into the 7.30 video, but at different points than in the online video.
The ABC sincerely apologises for the editing errors, including to members of the 2nd Commando Regiment. The videos have been removed.
The review found “no evidence to support the conclusion that any of this was done at the direction of the journalists involved or on the initiative of the video editor in order to doctor or deliberately distort the depiction of the events that occurred. On the contrary, what evidence there is suggests it was not a deliberate editorial decision to include additional gunshot audio in order to mislead or deceive.”
The review found Mr Hamilton’s final comment that alleged war crimes should be investigated was not in proper context and therefore did not accurately represent him as talking about war crimes in general rather than referring to any specific allegations. The review found this was potentially misleading. ABC News sincerely apologises to Mr Hamilton and assures him that was not the meaning we intended to convey. We regret if any audience members were misled. The review found Mr Hamilton’s views were otherwise accurately represented. Editor’s notes have been attached to the stories
ABC News: On November 3, 2024, the ABC published a story detailed a high and extreme grass pollen forecast across Victoria. The story noted that VicEmergency had warned of a "high" risk of thunderstorm asthma in East Gippsland, when the warning was in fact for a "moderate" risk. The story has been updated to reflect this.
In May 2022 the ABC published news stories online, on ABC News and ABC TV, regarding the opening of the Maryborough public toilets known as the Cistern Chapel which included images and video of mural in the Cistern Chapel. Artist Akos Juhasz has complained to the ABC that his contributions to the mural were not properly attributed to him in those publications. Without any admission of liability in respect of that complaint, the ABC wishes to make clear that Mr Juhasz was the artist who designed & painted the mural in the men’s and women’s public toilet areas of the Cistern Chapel and the ABC apologises to Mr Juhasz for any hurt or distress caused by its publications and subsequent engagement with him.
ABC Darwin: An episode of Darwin Breakfast broadcast on 20 September 2024 included a quote which referred to the advisory firm Brookline Advisory and one of its directors Lidjia Ivanovski, which was incorrectly stated to have been taken from the recommendations to the Report for the Senate’s inquiry into the Middle Arm Industrial Precinct. The ABC clarifies that the relevant quote did not appear in the recommendations of that report, but in the Australian Greens’ Additional Comments to the report.
Four Corners: This story broadcast on August 19 and the associated digital story examined the role of the Northern Territory government in facilitating water licenses for the growing of cotton, particularly in the area near Mataranka Springs and Elsey Creek. On August 14 the Northern Territory Department of Environment, Parks and Water Security released a ‘Regulatory Statement – Water Quality Investigation Elsey Creek’ in response to concerns about changes in water quality in Elsey Creek. The department says testing it completed on 19th June 2024 did not indicate any significant change in water quality. Experts Professor Jenny Davis, and Professor Matthew Currell say the regulatory statement is useful but stress it is incomplete and inconclusive. The department says the investigation is ongoing. This was not included in the program but has now been added to the program and News Online website with a link to the report
ABC News: the digital version of the news report on the protests in Sydney about the war in the Middle East on 29 September which was originally broadcast as the third story in a package on the 7.00 news and National News has been changed to include context that was missing when published in isolation, not with the two preceding stories. The digital version’s title has been changed to ‘Middle East protests’ instead of ‘Cries for peace’, and the following context has been added “Thousands of protesters have gathered to voice their concerns about the Israeli attacks on Gaza and Lebanon, with many also marking the death of Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, designated by the Australian government as a terrorist organisation.”
News: On October 13 the 7pm News incorrectly reported that the former Scottish First Minister, Alex Salmond died in Macedonia. He died in North Macedonia.
ABC Canberra: An article was published on Wednesday 11 September announcing the location for the high school at Bungendore, NSW, after years of community debate and division. The original version of the story incorrectly described the original proposal for the school on Majara Street as involving the demolition of the town’s only park. However, only parts of the park complex were to be impacted by the earlier proposal. The story also incorrectly stated that students from years 7 and 8 attend the school in demountable classrooms and other temporary sites. However, students from years 7, 8 and 9 attend the school. Both factual errors in this story have been corrected.
ABC News Channel: On Tuesday 17 September, a reporter misspoke during a News Channel live cross on the defamation court proceedings involving Moira Deeming MP and Victorian Liberal leader John Pesutto. She referred to David Davis being present at a meeting between Liberal MPs and Ms Deeming, when she meant to say David Southwick MP was one of the attendees. Mr Davis was not present at the meeting.
ABC Canberra: An article was published on Thursday 5 September offering a reassuring message to Canberra students sitting their AST exams this week - "that their Australian Tertiary Entrance Rank (or ATAR) doesn't determine their success" . The original version of the story stated that a student's ACT Scaling Test (or AST) results are scaled to calculate their ATAR. It has since been changed to make it clear that AST results are just one of the contributing factors to a student’s ATAR
News Online and News Channel: On 2 August in a segment backgrounding the current conflict in Middle East a map displayed behind the presenter did not identify the West Bank and inaccurately included it in Israel. The error was unintentional and the segment has been deleted from ABC News Online and other platforms.
ABC Canberra: An article published on Monday 19 August about using cholesterol as a potential weapon in the fight against malaria and other potentially deadly parasitic diseases, incorrectly stated that the lead researcher on a project was Professor Alex Maier. In fact, the lead researchers were Dr Merryn Fraser and Blake Curtis. Professor Alex Maier supervised the research. The article has been corrected and an editor's note added.
ABC Sydney. An Afternoons host on 1 July 2024 inaccurately stated that the Central Coast Council had been referred to ICAC for possible corruption and financial mismanagement, that the Central Coast Council faced an "accounting hole" of nearly $1.5 billion, and that members of the Central Coast Council were dismissed from their roles due to corruption. In fact, the council referred to ICAC was Gosford Council, the "accounting hole" figure relates to Gosford Council and is the subject of some debate, and no members of either council were dismissed from their roles due to corruption. The Central Coast Council was, however, dismissed in 2022 following an unrelated NSW inquiry into its financial management. The ABC apologies for these errors, and for any confusion caused.
News: An article published on July 30 incorrectly stated that the Clarence City Council on Hobart’s eastern shore had abandoned its ‘City Heart’ strategic growth plan in favour of a proposed AFL high performance centre at two parks in the suburb of Rosny. While the council’s original plan listed those parks as public open spaces, it still hopes to develop an arts and culture precinct and walking trails in the area if the facility is built. The story said $405,000 had been spent consulting the community on the plan, but the actual amount is $20,000. The story also suggested the high-performance centre would include two MCG-sized ovals; however, the proposal is for one MCG-sized oval and a smaller oval. It stated that 80 trees would need to be felled to build the facility at Rosny, but this number has not been confirmed. The original story contained an image of what the high-performance centre might look like, but it was not made clear to the audience that this was a representation released by the Save Rosny Parks group which opposes the project. The article has been corrected and an editor’s note was added.
ABC News Breakfast: On 7 June News Breakfast interviewed Greens MP Max Chandler-Mather about the Greens’ allegation that Labor is ‘complicit in genocide’. The audience was not informed that accusations of Israel committing genocide in Gaza are allegations and are contested. South Africa’s genocide case against Israel is still before the International Court of Justice. In January 2024, the ICJ made an interim order that Israel should take measures to prevent genocide from occurring to Palestinians in Gaza. An editor’s note has been included on the digital versions of the interview.
News: Editor's: A timeline published on May 28 outlining events leading up to an airstrike in Rafah has been updated to include that Hamas fired rockets into Israel before the Israeli air strike on Tel Al-Sultan and Israel's position that the terms of a proposed ceasefire had changed. The article has also been amended to more accurately reflect the International Court of Justice rulings and to attribute comments about the functioning of northern Gaza hospitals to the World Health Organisation representative Richard Peeperkorn.
ABC Gippsland. An article published on 5 June 2024 concerning Latrobe City Council incorrectly attributed to Cr Melissa Ferguson a tweet saying “trans people in general are predators, perpetrating perversion and abuse, and preying on children”. In fact, this was a characterisation of the alleged meaning of a re-tweet by Cr Ferguson, as opposed to a direct quote from the re-tweet. Cr Ferguson strongly disagrees with the characterisation of her re-tweet, describing the quoted words as an “offensive statement” which she did not make. The ABC apologises to Cr Ferguson for the error.