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Antisemitism envoy Jillian Segal has singled out 20-month-old ABC News reporting to support her claim that the media is spreading “manipulated narratives” that drive hatred toward Jewish people.
But the national broadcaster hit back, arguing factual errors in its reporting about an explosion at a hospital in Gaza during the early days of Israel’s offensive against the enclave in 2023 were corrected quickly, and its work was cleared by the ABC’s dedicated ombudsman.
Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism Jillian Segal has criticised the ABC’s reporting on an incident in the early days of Israel’s offensive on Gaza.Credit: Dylan Coker
The clash, which began on the national broadcaster’s Radio National Breakfast program on Friday, came a day after Segal presented her blueprint to tackle antisemitism that criticised the media and included a recommendation to monitor their output.
On Friday morning, after Segal was pressed by host Steve Cannane to identify legacy media reporting that had deployed manipulated narratives, the envoy pointed to the national broadcaster.
“Six months ago or so … the ABC ran a story repeatedly about a hospital in Gaza that had been bombed, and there was incomplete information,” Segal said. “The ABC reported it as fact that it had been bombed by Israel, and then … people were upset, and the Jewish community was looked at with disgust.
“Then it turned out, indeed, that it was not bombed by Israel, but had been from Gaza itself, and it had been a bomb that had fallen short,” she said.
She accused the ABC of running only a small correction, leaving the impression that Israelis had bombed the hospital.
Wounded Palestinians who were at Ahli Arab hospital that was struck on October 17, 2023.Credit: AP
Cannane disputed the example, arguing it was the BBC that made the false report and saying he had no memory of the ABC doing so.
In fact, the ABC had reported on the hospital explosion, but not at the time Segal claimed. A spokesperson from the envoy’s office confirmed Segal intended to refer to a case in October 2023, not a story six months ago.
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On October 18, 2023, the ABC posted on X with a link to an article and a caption reading: “An Israeli air strike has killed hundreds of Palestinians at a Gaza hospital crammed with patients and displaced people, health authorities in the besieged enclave say.”
Early morning ABC News bulletins that day attributed the claim about the airstrike to Gazan authorities, which are run by the terrorist group Hamas.
Those reports were based on a story from the international wire service Reuters, which is widely used by news organisations for global coverage, including this masthead.
Israel quickly disputed that it was responsible for the strike on the hospital, blaming Palestinian militants.
Human Rights Watch, a non-governmental organisation that has been highly critical of Israel, later found the attack likely came from a rocket-propelled munition, weaponry commonly used by Palestinian armed groups, and could have misfired, causing it to land on the hospital. That view has now been widely accepted.
The ABC told its ombudsman that it updated its first story about 25 minutes after it was published to include the Israeli military denying responsibility.
The broadcaster took down the X post hours after it went up and altered other headlines in response to complaints.
Its coverage in subsequent days continued to include contrary claims of responsibility from each side.
In an investigation published in November 2023, the ABC ombudsman cleared the broadcaster, finding it was not biased and complied with accuracy standards as more information became available, despite complaints from people sympathetic to both sides of the conflict.
An ABC spokesperson said: “ABC reports were updated and corrected very quickly. The Ombudsman found ‘the coverage did not breach accuracy standards’, and the ABC ‘reported on the incident with due impartiality’.”
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In his interview with Segal, Cannane noted that one “reason why it’s so difficult to report from Gaza is the Israeli government won’t let journalists in there.” Segal agreed and said that was why reporting on Gaza had to be done carefully.
Speaking later on Friday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese refused to be drawn on the level of antisemitism a traveller must express before they are denied a visa to enter Australia. Cancelling visas for antisemites is another of Segal’s calls. Australia has already done that for figures such as the rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, who released a song entitled Heil Hitler.
Albanese would not say if an antisemitic view included someone suggesting the state of Israel should be eliminated.
“Our system goes through security clearances and that is a condition that we make. Across the board, we examine whether someone’s an appropriate person to be granted a visa to Australia,” Albanese said.
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