I know my column is late this week. Yeah, my health has been bad again — it’s always bad, but it has been particularly bad lately – but the main reason I’m dragging my feet is because I’m heartbroken.
When I was young, silly and starting out in commercial radio at the tender age of 15, my great ambition was to make it to “the Ms”.
Triple M was the coolest thing on the planet at that point in my life. I imagined myself wearing ripped T-shirts and black jeans, hanging out with bands like INXS.
It didn’t take much longer for me to develop a wider view of the world. By the time I was 18, completely enamoured with Natasha Stott Despoja and joining the Australian Democrats, my career goal had shifted. I wanted to work in current affairs or become a political reporter for the ABC. Either on the radio at AM, or the mighty Four Corners – I wanted to be at that ultimate pinnacle of media that was so trusted every story had the potential to change the world.
That is why it has been so difficult for me to investigate what I believe were serious flaws in the Four Corners program “Duped” — and to publish three stories examining its claims.
The first was a long read exploring significant credibility concerns. The second examined claims involving workers in Australia unlawfully, including reports that some wanted to return home and the support available to them. The third considered how a knee-jerk regulatory response to the program could increase food prices by adding unnecessary requirements to a system that is already heavily regulated.
In truth, there was so much wrong with ‘Duped’ I could have written 30 stories. Brandolini’s Law strikes again.
This work has left me confronting an uncomfortable question: if Australians cannot trust the ABC, how can they be expected to trust the media more broadly?
I am sure the Four Corners team faced considerable pressure to deliver a major scoop, given everything going on behind the scenes, however, this was not it. Combined with the withdrawn programs about drugs linked to now sacked journalist Mahmoud Fazal, and the Timber Turmoil program in June that is also headed to the internal ombusman, it is clear that the standard bearer of Australian current affairs is not what it used to be.
Eight months — and presumably a significant amount of public money — went into an investigation on a story with a central premise that does not appear to withstand basic scrutiny. Perhaps a more credible program would have resulted had the investigation focused solely on the treatment of workers allegedly in the country unlawfully, rather than attempting to frame the story primarily around food fraud and making all kinds of assertions with little evidence to back it up.
But the mistreatment of vulnerable workers is less likely to attract the kind of audience that the frightening suggestion that Australians cannot trust the food they eat delivers. Fear of the most common things always drives great audience numbers.
Food security and food safety affect every one of us. Many people across New England are rightly proud of the role they play in producing high-quality, safe food for Australians and consumers around the world.
Those people work incredibly hard to maintain standards and public confidence. It is not fair for their reputations and livelihoods to be damaged by a program that, in my opinion, was poorly constructed and appeared more interested in clicks and controversy than clarity and credibility.
It is also not acceptable for a program funded by taxpayers to be broadcast when it falls so far below the standard audiences should expect from the flagship investigative program of the national broadcaster. We would not accept those standards at this dinky little regional news website. Australians should certainly expect better from Four Corners.
None of this changes my firm belief in the importance of the ABC.
I support restoring appropriate funding to the national broadcaster. In fact, I believe the ABC needs more funding, not less, so that it can undertake the difficult, time-consuming investigations that commercial media outlets are increasingly unable or unwilling to pursue.
But that support cannot be unconditional.
With adequate public funding comes an obligation to choose investigations for their public value — not for clicks, spectacle or controversy. It requires rigorous verification, careful treatment of evidence and a willingness to abandon or reshape a story when the facts do not support its original premise.
Holding the ABC accountable is not an argument for weakening it. It is an argument for protecting what makes it indispensable.
The ABC is too important to lose. That is precisely why it must do better.
End rant.
Dr RK (Kath) Crosby is the CEO of research and strategy company KORE CSR, former strategist for the Australian Democrats, and holds a PhD in political behaviour. She is also a well known migraine and health advocate, and the Publisher of New England Times and North Coast Times.