Aunty still in denial, but proving political bias is as easy as ABC

And when The Australian's Christian Kerr this week revealed sections of the notes, relating to declining audiences, it prompted an email to staff from Scott. Again the strategy was denial. "Today's so-called exclusive in The Australian is a slanted look at information contained in our last annual report," he wrote. He went on to provide context and other audience information.

But on bias he wrote: "And the truth is, unlike some of our partisan competitors, all voices are welcome at the ABC."

Scott clearly sees partisanship elsewhere but not within.

That is a pity because the green-left slant of the corporation is obvious enough, even understandable. The mere fact it is a public broadcaster will lead to a certain degree of self-selection by staff and acceptance of government involvement in markets - the media market at the very least.

And being open to "all voices" is not an antidote to institutional jaundice.

The problem isn't so much that political bias may arise but that it isn't recognised or countered.

The briefing notes, acquired under Freedom of Information laws, consist of suggested speaking points and background material.

One section provides a defence of the ABC's treatment of two unrelated stories: the Julia Gillard/AWU affair from her time as a lawyer with Slater & Gordon; and the allegations about Tony Abbott punching a wall near a female political rival during his university days.

The background material includes a posting from my blog that compared the ABC's coverage of the issues, claiming the AWU story was a more serious issue based on documentary evidence: "The ABC resisted serious reporting of the issue until Ms Gillard held a press conference to try to clear the air. Then they left it alone." On the other hand, the blog noted, the claim against Abbott relied on one contested, personal recollection: "The ABC runs the allegations, runs the denials, runs the journalist who revealed the allegations, and discusses the implications for Mr Abbott."

The accusation was that the ABC deliberately shunned serious claims about the Prime Minister but joined a feeding frenzy over a flimsy allegation against the Opposition Leader.

Yet even Scott's briefing notes made no distinction between the relative importance of the stories: "Both stories were generally considered newsworthy by media outlets because they went to the issue of the character and ethics of the two leaders."

And no attempt was made to quantify the relative coverage.

"The ABC believes its coverage of both stories was appropriate, fair and balanced, including in providing opportunity for both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition to put forward their responses to the allegations."

The notes talked up the ABC's coverage of the AWU affair, pointing out it led the "Sunday night 7pm bulletin when the story broke".

The ABC has confirmed that reference was to Sunday, August 19. Yet the issue had been progressively revealed through reporting by The Australian's Hedley Thomas since July.

Former attorney-general Robert McClelland revived the issue in parliament in June.

By August 18, Thomas had unearthed a sensational front-page exclusive revealing a transcript of Gillard's exit interview from Slater & Gordon, in which she admitted helping to establish what she described as a "slush fund" and couldn't rule out deriving personal benefit from it.

The ABC's story, not that night but the following day, was sparked by Gillard's testy response to the issue when she appeared on Sky News's Australian Agenda program, attacked The Australian's editor-at-large Paul Kelly and dismissed the story as "scurrilous campaigning".

That this was the point the ABC finally decided the issue was newsworthy does not demonstrate impartiality but serves to illustrate the opposite.

Likewise, the briefing notes cite the ABC's Insiders discussing the issue on August 26 - this was the weekend after the Prime Minister held a lengthy press conference to try to put the issue to bed. In other words, Insiders tackled the issue when it could not possibly avoid it any longer.

But, as this column noted last November, the game had been given away by an email to a viewer from the ABC's Canberra news editor, John Mulhall. "We know The Australian newspaper maintains an abiding interest in events 17 years ago at the law firm Slater & Gordon," he wrote, "but the ABC is unaware of any allegation in the public domain which goes to the Prime Minister's integrity."

And even MediaWatch eventually noted the ABC's incuriosity.

A taxpayer-funded corporation should not be so defensive about public concerns of political bias. Rather, it should examine them as objectively as possible and seek to explain any errors or lift its game. The ABC documents cover a variety of other issues. Again, claims of political bias are dismissed over the controversial Leigh Sales interview on 7.30 with Abbott last August. The briefing notes portend criticism about anti-Coalition bias. Predictably, the suggested response is that "the approach taken was consistent with that taken in other high-profile interviews with politicians of all affiliations".

Background notes reveal Aunty received 523 complaints about the interview, "mostly that it reflected anti-opposition bias or that Leigh Sales conducted the interview in an aggressive manner". There were also 376 "appreciative contacts" that lauded the interview as "probing, informed and impartial" and "exactly what democracy needs".

There is no doubt the interview was compelling - it won Sales a prestigious journalism award. It would be reasonable to deduce the complainants would be more relaxed about such interviews if they saw Labor and Greens MPs put under similar pressure.

The notes cover another controversy where, again, the aggrieved party is on the conservative side of politics. It reveals that Radio National presenter Jonathan Green was admonished for a breach of social media policy during the controversy over 2GB broadcaster Alan Jones's tasteless remarks about Gillard's late father.

Green's contribution to the twittersphere was, "Breaking: Alan Jones to die contemptible and alone."

Green, a former editor of The Drum website, was "counselled" by the ABC. The briefing notes say he offered his apology not to Jones but to the ABC managing director. "It was felt that an apology on Twitter was not desirable as it might draw further attention to the tweet."

It seems our national broadcaster has put the shutters up.

As Napoleon Bonaparte famously recommended, "in politics ... never retreat, never retract, never admit a mistake".