Australian Special Envoy on anti-Semitism Jillian Segal has told a Royal Commission that the ABC is “marking their own homework” and acting as “judge, counsel, and jury” as the hatred escalates.
Ms Segal opened Thursday’s hearing of the Royal Commission into Anti-Semitism and Social Cohesion, which was launched after the massacre of 15 people at Bondi Beach in December.
She expressed concerns that the public broadcaster still did not properly understand anti-Semitism, had not rolled out education or adopted a key definition, and was painting Israel “in a negative light”.
Ms Segal argued the ABC’s internal processes could be improved, and noted that ombudsman Fiona Cameron is appointed by and reports to the board, and therefore remains part of the same organisation and culture.
“I just don’t know… how they think that they can set the rules, which are their standards,” she said.
“They can review them, which is their internal complaint system — it’s an ombudsman, but it’s internal, appointed by the board, reporting to a board.
“They can mark their own homework.
“They are, with respect, judge, counsel, and jury.
“They are all of it. I don’t think anyone accepts the fact that you can always mark your own homework.
“I don’t accuse any individual in the ABC of not holding a genuine view, but I think having an assessment just would be important for everyone in our community.
“It’s not an attack on anyone or on the ABC.
“I would like the ABC to be as good as it possibly could be… not in any way to restrict or constrain it from being independent, but just to be as good as it could be.
“It needs to understand this particular hatred we’re focused on.”
Her testimony came ahead of expected appearances by the ABC and SBS in the afternoon, and a day before the one-year anniversary of her plan to combat anti-Semitism in Australia.
Ahead of their appearances, the ABC and SBS issued pre-emptive statements rejecting claims that “journalism has contributed to anti-Semitism or social division”.
In a statement issued on Wednesday night, the ABC said its “reporting has been evidence-based, fair, impartial and consistent with its Charter obligations”.
SBS said in its statement that the broadcaster represents “Jewish Australian stories and perspectives in a way that is respectful, accurate and inclusive”.
One of Ms Segal’s key points in her plan published last year was that “culture, arts and public broadcasting” in Australia should not be used to “support or implicitly endorse anti-Semitic themes or narratives”.
She also told the Commission on Thursday that the public broadcasters should use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of anti-Semitism as a “tool”.
“I believe that would help to actually understand that through the IHRA definition. I think it’s a good tool,” she said.
Ms Segal spoke about a perception in the Australian Jewish community that their public broadcasters “paint Israel constantly in a negative light”.
She said it was a complex thing to test, as the perception arose from several factors: what was included in a broadcast package, the editorial decision of where to publish the content, how long it ran, and the order it appeared in a bulletin.
“My view is that the reporters and the hierarchy of the ABC don’t have an understanding of the constellation issue,” she said.
“We can correct that with a bit of education, which hasn’t happened.
“There is a perception - and a very strongly held perception - from the Jewish community that the way in which the Gaza conflict, in particular, and the activities that are going on in the Middle East, are reported has created an impression of great negativity about Israel, and that there is this conflation of anti-Semitism.
“It’s a very serious perception that a community under attack here in Australia feels that the trusted national broadcaster is not presenting the situation in the Middle East in a way that they think is not biased and (is) accurate.
“There are many ways in which that happens. It’s very hard to test. But there are methods to test it that have been set up — complaints, etc.
“My concern is that the whole system is not working to assure all of us that the reporting is as per required, and that’s why I make a suggestion of an oversight exercise.
“I’m not in any way suggesting that they shouldn’t cover the matters that they consider important, but there are also lots of important issues around the world.”
The terror attack at a Hanukkah festival at Australia’s most popular beach on December 14 came after repeated warnings from several authorities, including spy agency ASIO that anti-Semitism was a growing threat in the country.
Just months earlier, ASIO Director General Mike Burgess had said fighting anti-Semitism remained the top priority in terms of threats to life on home soil and appealed to the public to refrain from “inflamed language” around the “emotive issues” of the Middle East crisis.
He told a Senate committee in February that the form of racism had for the first time become the agency’s number one priority “because of the weight of incidents we’re seeing play out in this country”.
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