Posted | Updated
7pm TV News: On January 27, in a story about the US defence budget, the ABC incorrectly reported that “The Pentagon has unveiled nearly 500 billion dollars in spending cuts for next year's US defence budget”. These cuts will be over a 10 year period, not over one year as the story implied.
Posted
7PM News ACT: On January 30 a story on the Federal Department of Health and Ageing sanctions placed on Anglicare's Ginninderra Gardens Nursing Home in the ACT may have inadvertently given the impression that Anglicare runs the Federal Government's complaints helpline for reporting elderly abuse. In fact it is only the helpline funded by the ACT Government which is run by Anglicare.
Posted
News Online: On January 14, in a story about the Costa Concordia running aground, a short headline on the ABC home page mistakenly reported that “tens of thousands” of passengers were affected. In fact there were closer to 4000 passengers on the vessel.
Posted
7pm News, South Australia: On January 2, during the introduction to the news bulletin, the ABC incorrectly reported that there were “New tensions as Iran tests a nuclear-powered missile”. Iran did not test a nuclear powered missile. The ABC confused two separate parts of the story, one involving a nuclear fuel rod that was produced using uranium enriched Iran, the other was the successful launch of a missile capable of avoiding radar detection.
Posted
ABC News Breakfast: On 29 December 2011, in a conversation about world leaders, the ABC referred to Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela as a “dictator”. He was elected to the position and has held the office since 1998.
Posted
ABC Newcastle: This story published on December 5 was removed because it was in breach of the ABC requirements for balance and context. The story reported that a Newcastle University professor who rejects the science of climate change felt vindicated that leaked scientific emails “showed fundamental flaws in the methodology” of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. These were not balanced by comments in support of the science of climate change and the article did not associate the leaked emails with the ‘Climategate' emails of 2009.
Posted
Radio News: On January 1, in a report about John Howard being awarded a place in the Queen’s Order of Merit, the ABC incorrectly reported that “He's one of just 24 people brought into the Order each New Year's Day”. In fact, there are only ever 24 members at any given time and they are nominated when the Queen sees fit. They are not routinely announced on New Year’s Day.
Posted
7pm TV News: On January 1, in a story about Iran’s military manoeuvres, the ABC reported that “40% of the world's oil passes through” the Strait of Hormuz. In fact about one third of the world’s oil transported by sea passes through the strait.
Posted | Updated
Midday Report: On November 24, the introduction to an interview about changes to the federal Family Law Act reported “the amendments roll back the ‘Shared Care’ policy of the Howard Government, which tried to ensure that both parents had access to children after a divorce.” The ABC acknowledges that this statement was a matter of opinion, and should not have been reported as fact.
The interview also did not provide necessary context and alternative viewpoints, and therefore had the effect of unduly favouring the personal views of the guest on the program.
Posted
News Online: On December 18, in a news agency story about a boat that sank off the coast of java, it was incorrectly reported that “the passengers are believed to be illegal migrants from countries including Iran and Afghanistan”. The act of seeking asylum is not illegal. View the report.
Posted | Updated
News Online: This story published on January 10 was removed because it contained errors. The story reported research undertaken in the US into shale gas. It then wrongly linked this research with the coal seam gas industry in Australia.
Posted | Updated
News Online: The ABC regrets that due to human error a number of news stories originally published in 2007 were recently republished on ABC News Online with 5 January 2012 dates. The ABC apologises to users of its Online News and news syndication services for this error.
Posted
News24: On November 25, in a story about the British inquiry into media ethics, the ABC incorrectly reported that Max Mosley “partly blames his son’s
suicide on the stories published in the News of the World”. In fact, his son died from a drug overdose and Mr Mosley attributes his son’s drug usage to the newspapers’ behaviour.
Posted
7pm TV News, NSW: On January 3, in an obituary regarding NSW Labor MP Rex Jackson, the ABC reported that Mr Jackson had been given “the nickname ‘buckets’ because he threatened to tip the bucket on the ALP if he was dumped”. In fact, the nickname referred to his tendency to come down hard on his opponents. View related report.
Posted
7pm TV News: On January 3, in a story about Iranian military exercises, the ABC reported that they were occurring in the Arabian Gulf. The ABC’s recommended name for the area is the Persian Gulf.
Posted
7:30: On January 2, in a report about the SCG celebrating a century of cricket test matches, the ABC incorrectly reported “Sachin Tendulkar comes into this game with 99 Test centuries to his name”. Sachin Tendulkar has 99 international centuries, 51 of these came from test matches. View the report.
Posted
ABC News: On October 19, in a story about kangaroo numbers and the possible impact on graziers, the ABC reported that “Hundreds of roo shooters have left the industry since the meat trade to Russia ended two years ago, allowing kangaroo numbers on outback properties to increase." The claim that numbers have increased should have been attributed to Wool Growers Australia.
Posted
Radio News: On Saturday December 17, the ABC reported that Victorian nurses had been ordered to suspend work bans which had led to the closure of more than 900 beds across the state. This was incorrect and was caused by the accidental re-run of a story from a month earlier. In fact, the nurses lifted their work bans and re-opened beds on November 26. The ABC apologises for the error
Posted
AM: On November 28, the headline to a story about the New Zealand elections reported [John] “Key’s National Party returned to power with huge majority in NZ”. Although winning its its largest share in the vote in 60 years, the National Party did not have a majority, winning 60 seats in the 121-seat house. The headline has been changed to “Key’s National Party returned to power in NZ”. View the report.
Posted | Updated
AM: On November 16, in a report about government efforts to curb exorbitant rates of payday money lending, the ABC reported that one form involves “signing a contract to buy diamonds which they immediately sell back at a dramatically discounted value to the money lenders for cash”. In fact it involves immediately selling to another party at a dramatically discounted value for cash.
When reporting on an organisation involved in a case, the ABC reported that the “tribunal ruled that calling the arrangement a transaction was ‘so highly unlikely, improbable and implausible as to be a complete fiction’". In fact when looking at the whole transaction, the tribunal stated that “to characterise the transaction as for the purchase and sale of diamonds was “so highly unlikely, improbable and implausible as to be a complete fiction’.” The proceedings were brought against Fast Access Finance (Beaudesert) Pty Ltd and against Diamond Clearing House Pty Ltd – separate companies to Fast Access Finance.
Posted | Updated
Classic FM: On October 10 at 7pm, during coverage of an industrial dispute between Qantas and unions, the ABC reported that engineers unions had called off a strike “at the eleventh hour, leaving no time to reinstate 40 cancelled flights and disrupting 11-thousand passengers”. These comments should have been attributed to Qantas.
Posted
Radio Australia: On October 28, in an interview with the UNICEF Universal Children's Day Ambassador, the interviewer asked the ambassador how children dealt with issues such as refugees and "Nazi Poland". The interviewer should have referred to "Nazi occupied Poland". View the report.
Posted
Radio National: On October 31, during coverage of an industrial dispute between Qantas and unions, the ABC reported that the airline had called off the grounding of its fleet "after all industrial action by three unions was terminated by workplace umpire Fair Work Australia", and that the airline had "won its fight to halt further industrial action". In fact, Fair Work Australia ordered an end to all industrial action, involving both Qantas and the unions.
Posted
triple j: On October 30, in a story about the Qantas industrial dispute, the ABC reported that the Qantas CEO “says he made the decision to ground his fleet because of the union's reaction to the annual general meeting on Friday where shareholders voted to give Mr Joyce a 71 per cent payrise”. The wording made it seem like the grounding was based on the union’s reaction to the pay increase, however, the grounding occurred as the result of a range of issues over a period of time.
Posted
News Online: On November 9, the headline to a story about Iran incorrectly attributed the statement "Iran tried to make atomic bomb” to the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency. In fact this overstated the allegations. The IAEA allege they have credible evidence to suggest Iran has carried out activities to develop a nuclear explosive device. View the report.
This service may include material from Agence France-Presse (AFP), APTN, Reuters, AAP, CNN and the BBC World Service which is copyright and cannot be reproduced.
AEDT = Australian Eastern Daylight Savings Time which is 11 hours ahead of UTC (Greenwich Mean Time)
