- Hawks ‘racism’ saga made headlines two years ago
- Club and coaches seriously affected
- Will ABC apologize for its coverage?
Here we go again, another example of accusations treated as fact, reported and criticized on social media, damaging reputations but ultimately deemed unfounded and most likely false.
The Hawthorn ‘racism’ saga hit the headlines almost two years ago, when the ABC reported on allegations that the club’s coaching staff during its golden years, from 2008 to 2015, participated in a subculture of racism.
Named coaches, including Alastair Clarkson and Chris Fagan, are alleged to have pressured the partner of an Indigenous player to have an abortion and demanded the separation of Indigenous families to improve the players’ performance.
The coaching staff denied the accusations but the damage had already been done. His reputation was tarnished and his mental health was negatively affected.
Well, guess what, nearly two years later, a former federal court judge, no less, concluded that there was “no basis” to support the subculture of racist claims.
Former Hawthorn football coach Alastair Clarkson (pictured)
The Hawthorn soccer club has faced accusations of racism that a former federal judge says have no basis in fact.
The accusation of family separation “lacked evidence.” Overall, the former judge concluded that the scandal had “a striking lack of evidence” to support the damaging accusations being made.
Did that prevent them from being reported as fact before a proper trial? Of course not. The ABC broke the story and happily fed what we now know is a false narrative of racism at Hawthorn football club.
What an absolute shame!
As ABC chief executive David Anderson prepares to present Senate estimates this afternoon, where he will no doubt be questioned about another case of a senior ABC reporter hurling racist comments across a room, these examples are sadly not isolated within the public broadcaster.
Leading ABC political reporter Laura Tingle told the Sydney Writers Festival that Australia is a racist country and opposition leader Peter Dutton’s policies are stoking that racism. She was nowhere to be seen searching for facts to support the accusations.
ABC political reporter Laura Tingle (pictured) accused Australians of being racist and was reprimanded by her boss.
His news director gave him a slap on the wrist yesterday and Tingle issued a statement defending himself. “Case closed” will undoubtedly be Anderson’s response to today’s questions.
Defenders of ABC like to think of it as superior to commercial media. However, once again, the ABC has been found wanting on the facts once they have been properly investigated.
I wonder if Anderson will privately apologize to those maligned Hawthorn coaches? Expressing his disappointment in what the organization he supposedly runs did. He’s done it before, away from the public eye which might draw the attention of reporters to him, who never seem to hold back from his mistakes.
