Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

asked the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, upon notice, on 8 April 2011:

Given that:

(a) the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) has previously agreed that the West Bank security barrier is predominantly a fence and not a wall (response to question on notice no. 157);

(b) the ABC has advised that 'the barrier has been referred to in a number of ways' and cited four instances which used the terms 'security barrier' and 'border fence', however, the examples cited were about the Gaza barrier, which is a fence for the entirety of the Gaza/Israel border;

(c) the ABC advised further that it 'accepts that specific context is relevant in each circumstance';

(d) a protest at the barrier at Bil'in was the specific context for the broadcast headed 'Protester killed in campaign against West Bank wall' (AM, 25 April 2009); notwithstanding that the barrier was, and is entirely in the form of a fence, there are multiple instances in this report where the barrier is referred to as a 'wall'; and

(e) additionally, the report used the term 'wall' when referring to the entirety of the security barrier, terminology favoured by Israel's critics and commonplace in ABC reports:

(1) Does the ABC now concede that it often uses the expression 'wall' or similar expressions when referring to the entirety of the West Bank security barrier and/or when referring to a section of the barrier that is entirely in the form of a fence.

(2) Does the ABC concede that such usage breaches the requirements in the editorial policies for accuracy and impartiality.