The ABC has apologized to its audience, military commands and a former US anti-drug official for errors in its ‘Line of Fire’ reports on alleged war crimes in Afghanistan.
Five additional shots were added to a clip in which a soldier fired a single warning shot from a helicopter while flying over an Afghan compound where unarmed civilians were walking below.
The interim findings of an ABC report published this week found that the “audio editing error” arose through an “unintended consequence of attempts to create clean, accurate and effective sequences in the story.”
The video was broadcast on the ABC in 2022, but former special forces commando Heston Russell revealed the inaccuracies in the footage in an interview with Seven’s Spotlight program earlier this year.
The ABC removed the 56-second clip from an online article after acknowledging the error in the video and launching an independent investigation.
“The ABC sincerely regrets and apologizes for the editing errors in the video clips, including to members of the 2nd Commando Regiment,” ABC news director Justin Stevens said in a statement this week.
‘The ABC defends the vital importance of its investigations into the alleged conduct of Australian soldiers.
“The editing errors, while deeply regrettable, do not weaken the value of the ABC’s reporting over many years on these crucial issues.”
ABC News chief Justin Stevens (pictured) has apologized for errors in the broadcaster’s Line of Fire reporting on alleged war crimes in Afghanistan.
The original helmet camera video of the 2012 incident in Afghanistan shows a single warning shot about to be fired from a military helicopter, but five additional shots are heard in the ABC version.
The review also found that comments by former Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) leader Bret Hamilton had misrepresented him.
“The review found that Mr Hamilton’s final comment in an interview that alleged war crimes should always be investigated was not in the proper context and therefore did not accurately represent him speaking about war crimes allegations generally in rather than referring to specific allegations,” Mr. Stevens said.
‘The review found this to be potentially misleading. He found that Mr Hamilton’s views were otherwise accurately represented.
‘ABC News sincerely regrets and apologizes to Mr. Hamilton as well as members of our audience for this. That was not the meaning we intended to convey.’
The interim review is being led by former veteran ABC and SBS journalist turned media executive Alan Sunderland.
During Senate estimates on Tuesday, acting ABC CEO Melanie Kleyn said the report found “no evidence of any intent to deceive on the part of any ABC employee.”
Kleyn said that “there was no deliberate editorial decision to include additional shots to mislead or deceive” and refuted the suggestion that the central focus of the entire story was altered in a misleading way.
“The review also found that the stories contained important issues that are of public interest in relation to the issue of altered audio,” he said.
In October 2023, former special forces commando Heston Russell (pictured) won his defamation case against the ABC after a Federal Court judge ruled that he could not prove that articles published by the national broadcaster were from public interest.
According to the interim report, ABC made no deliberate effort to “distort the description of the events that occurred.”
Stevens also denied that the images had been deliberately manipulated and criticized the response of competing media companies.
“The great shame in all of this is that for weeks, several media outlets have accused journalists of handling material with the utmost integrity, which is one of the most offensive and damaging accusations one can make against a journalist,” he said.
‘The meaning of healing is to change something intentionally and deceitfully. What Mr. Sunderland’s review independently shows is that our team, journalists and executives at all levels did not manipulate any material.
“So there were mistakes, but they were not deliberate and there was no medical treatment.”
ABC was also asked why it did not act following a letter sent by Russell’s lawyers on November 22, 2022, after the footage was initially broadcast.
Kleyn said the broadcaster’s news division “did not receive a copy of that letter”, and Liberal senator Sarah Henderson criticized his comments as “scandalous”.
Mr Russell’s solicitors wrote to his solicitors telling them they had made a mistake. You put these fake shots in the video so what? Did nobody do anything? she said.
Are you telling me that the lawyers just stood by and did nothing? Did they tell anyone on the news?
During this period, Russell had already initiated defamation proceedings against the ABC and was subsequently awarded $390,000 in damages in October 2023.
Stevens said the issues should have been brought to the attention of the ABC’s editorial team, rather than its legal team, but Senator Henderson rejected his claims.
“There were every opportunity after that date, between then and now, for these issues to come to the attention of ABC News through a formal complaint, through the processes that we have in place, and as far as I know, that did not happen.” occurred”. ‘ said.
Kleyn said Sunderland was still reviewing the circumstances around the letter the ABC’s legal team received and why it was not passed on to the news division.
He said the final report would include a finding on the issue.