ABC gives disgraced surgeon Munjed Al Muderis publicity money can’t buy

Disgraced celebrity surgeon Munjed Al Muderis must love the ABC. Not only did the public broadcaster virtually ignore the verdict of his failed defamation case against Nine Entertainment, publisher of this masthead. But now the ABC is doing his publicity.

In a March 23 episode of the ABC’s Australian Story, the national broadcaster turned its lens back on Ghanim Al Shnen, a former Iraqi policeman who suffered a catastrophic accident working on an Australian building site that left his arms so badly burnt they required amputation.

After running a segment on Al Shnen in 2019, the heart-warming March episode traces Al Shnen’s remarkable road to recovery, aided by mind-controlled robotic arms attached by none other than Al Muderis.

While Al Shnen may be the subject of the episode, it’s Al Muderis who emerges as a key protagonist in the story, even if only over the course of tightly edited appearances throughout.

But other than some on-screen text for viewers to read about Al Muderis’ failed defamation action, the episode was pretty light on disclosure.

“After the 2019 episode aired, Dr Al Muderis was accused by Nine Media of downplaying the risks of osseointegration surgery, improper sales tactics, inappropriate patient selection and inadequate aftercare,” reads the text displayed in the broadcast.

“After Al Muderis failed in a defamation action, a judge found he ‘prioritise[d] fame, numbers and money over his patients’.”

Well, that’s one way to characterise it. The reporting in question was led by Charlotte Grieve, until recently a journalist at The Age, who this year started a new role as an investigative reporter at the ABC. So you’d think her colleagues would’ve asked her for tips before sending the item to air, or at the very least have taken time to read some of her previous work. After all, she wrote the book on the issue.

But it doesn’t look like it. Absent from the ABC’s Al Muderis puffery were meaningful disclosures related to the risks associated with osseointegration surgery. Also absent was any interrogation of the working relationship between Al Muderis and Stefan Laux, who appears in the Australian Story segment but was also a witness in the defamation proceedings.

And let’s not forget the technology patented by Al Muderis was broadcast without disclosure, not to mention the absence of any independent expert interview.

To its credit, the ABC did at one point note in the online story accompanying the episode that osseointegration is “a controversial and risky procedure”, and that “it is possible to attach mind-controlled robotic limbs using less-invasive methods”. But mention of Al Muderis in the online story has mysteriously vanished since publication.

When reached on Monday, an ABC spokeswoman said the story “is about Ghanim”, and that while the surgery is a “fundamental part” of his story, the episode was not about the surgery itself. It did acknowledge that complications can arise from the surgery. Al Shnen, according to the ABC spokeswoman, has no issues with his surgery or his treatment.

On the removal of Al Muderis’ name from the online story, the ABC spokeswoman said that because the story did not focus on the surgery, the original references to findings against Al Muderis “were not material to it and an editorial decision was made to remove them”. She also said the March episode was filmed before the court handed down a decision on his defamation case.

“No questions about Al Muderis had been raised at the time of the original episode, and the update was filmed before a decision on his defamation case was handed down,” the ABC spokeswoman told CBD in a statement.

“In light of the questions raised before and during the trial, we edited references to Al Muderis from the updated episode as much as possible. In a 30-minute episode, a little over four minutes contains material related to Al Muderis.”

The ABC spokeswoman would not be drawn on what, if any, discussions were held among the broadcaster’s leadership team about the episode, and who approved it before it went to air. She said the episode meets the ABC’s editorial standards.

“The episode was not about osseointegration surgery so did not include a high level of detail about the procedure. The episode acknowledged complications can arise from the surgery, which remains one of the options available for amputees,” she said.

“The episode meets the ABC’s editorial standards and remains available.”

Either way, Al Muderis must be happy. A stellar advertisement of his miracle work uncontested by the public broadcaster. The kind of publicity money just can’t buy.

Spotted: Is that Jacinda Ardern waiting for the bus?

Yes, we may be guilty of a bit of overkill here. But imagine our surprise when a Herald photographer, dispatched to the northern beaches to shoot some commuter generics on Monday morning, filed this pearler to the photo desk.

Is that former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern we see, standing in line for the city-bound B-line bus in Dee Why? One eagle-eyed colleague was convinced it was. For those playing along at home, we are referring to the woman to the far left of the frame, holding a phone with a yellow phone case. Ardern’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment in time for publication.

Regular readers of this column will no doubt recall when CBD brought word that Michelle Galletti, of Cunninghams on the northern beaches, is one of the local real estate agents who has opened their doors to Ardern in her hunt for a home on the area. Last we heard, Ardern had developed a taste for Curl Curl.

Sadly, there are no developments on the search. A NSW land title search turned up nothing on Ardern, so we can only guess she’s still on the hunt.

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