ABC reporter under investigation over vile comment
ABC Middle East correspondent Tom Joyner is under investigation as revealed by ABC's Managing Director David Anderson, after he called reports of Hamas beheading babies "bullshit".
Following explicit remarks, ABC’s Managing Director David Anderson has confirmed an investigation on reporter Tom Joyner.
“I am sorry that happened, and I am sorry that event occurred and that was then distressing to other people as well, it shouldn’t have happened,” said Anderson, as reported by The Australian.
The Zionist Federation of Australia (ZFA) has called on the ABC to stand down Middle East correspondent Tom Joyner after he called reports of Hamas beheading babies “bullshit”.
Joyner made the remark in a journalist WhatsApp group last Tuesday and was immediately condemned. He subsequently said, “I’m sorry about the wording … But we still have not seen clear evidence.”
In a letter to ABC director of news Justin Stevens, ZFA president Jeremy Leibler said the “appalling comment has damaged the ABC’s reputation for impartiality and independence in its coverage of the events in Israel and Gaza”.
“He must now promptly be denounced and disciplined by the ABC,” Leibler said.
“His continued position is untenable.”
Stevens replied that Joyner’s comment “was not on social media, published, publicly available, or intended to be shared or reported”.
“At the time he made the comment the ABC had contacted the IDF and had been told that the reports were unconfirmed,” Stevens said.
“Tom recognised the language of his comment was inappropriate and apologised. He has been spoken to by his manager and has expressed his remorse.”
Leibler said, “Mr Joyner might have apologised, but what is not clear is whether he is sorry that he posted the message or sorry that he seemed to have some strange desire to disprove credible reports.
“His credibility as a journalist has been severely damaged and therefore his reporting for the ABC going forward will not have credibility.”
Meanwhile, Zionism Victoria (ZV) will escalate a complaint to the ABC Ombudsman over an online story originally headlined “Palestinian militants launch military operation, Israel strikes targets in Gaza”.
ZV said describing Hamas’s actions as a military operation creates “a false moral equivalence” between terrorists targeting civilians and the actions of a state.
The headline was subsequently partially changed to “Palestinian militants launch surprise assault”.
“We agree the original headline and story shouldn’t have used the term military operation,” the ABC replied to ZV’s complaint.
ZV told The AJN, “To alter it merely to ‘surprise assault’ when more than a thousand innocent civilians have been brutally slaughtered, thousands more injured and up to 200 kidnapped seriously underplays the severity of the atrocity.
“Furthermore, they still refer to the perpetrators as militants, rather than terrorists.”
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