ABC coverage of King Charles’s coronation ‘totally misread the mood, says Neil Mitchell
Neil Mitchell says ‘somebody in the ABC needs to be accountable for’ its inappropriate broadcast bagging the ‘living daylights out of the monarchy’.
Herald Sun, May 8, 2023
The ABC’s coverage of King Charles III’s coronation “totally misread the mood” and it was inappropriate that the public broadcaster spent the lead-up to the crowning at Westminster Abbey bagging the “living daylights out of the monarchy”, Melbourne’s 3AW broadcaster Neil Mitchell said.
Speaking on his program on Monday morning, Mitchell criticised the public broadcaster’s coverage that featured an unbalanced panel discussion, led by presenters Jeremy Fernandez and Julia Baird, from 5pm Saturday (AEST) with a panel of guests, including Q+A host Stan Grant, discussing the historic event.
“They had a four-person panel in the lead up, three of them republicans,” Mitchell said.
“They are talking over this footage of this grand ceremony being prepared, souring the mood, so a lot of people turned off.”
The panel discussion focused on colonisation and the damage the monarchy had caused Indigenous Australians in the lead-up to the coronation.
Mitchell said have these discussions “during live coverage of the coronation was not the time” and he said ABC management needed to “be accountable”.
“I really wonder sometimes why we feed these ABC people, I don’t blame the people on air, it’s whomever in management decides, “ah, here’s a good idea, let’s use footage from London while we bag the living daylights out of the monarchy”,” he said.
“Somebody in the ABC needs to be accountable for this, as the national broadcaster it should have been the place you go to see the coverage of the coronation, instead you see all this bitterness about our Indigenous history.”
Liberal MP Julian Leeser was on the panel and he expressed support for the institution but on Sunday night he posted on Facebook that the “ABC got the balance wrong with the discussion”.
“To have only one of four panellists as supporters of our existing constitutional arrangements meant there was little opportunity for a panel discussion that reflected the warmth and respect Australians have for King Charles.”
He said he disagreed with some of Grant’s comments but “Stan has every right to his beliefs” and said “much of the online commentary about Stan has been appalling”.
But Mitchell said Grant’s comments weren’t appropriate during the coronation: “It’s like playing a Benny Hill skit in the middle of the royal funeral, bad feel”.
Sydney 2GB host Ray Hadley labelled the ABC’s commentary on the historical event “bile”.
“They had a token person who represented the monarchy form of live, then we had the line-up of people wanting to give it, it’s just not the platform for it, there’s no dignity attached to it.
“The ABC is supposed to be there balancing like the scales of justice, balancing coverage but they never, ever appear to get there in any guise.”
The glaring imbalance of the panel appeared to be in contrast to the ABC’s charter, which states: “The responsibility of the corporation as the provider of an independent national broadcasting service is to provide a balance between broadcasting programs of wide appeal and specialised broadcasting programs.”
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The chair of the Australian Monarchist League, Eric Abetz, said the ABC’s panel discussion was “completely unacceptable” during the historical event.
“This was a celebratory event, it would be like covering somebody’s birthday or funeral and then picking on all the possible negatives rather than celebrating the person’s life and the good they did,” he said.
“Australians are willing to accept there are negative aspects of Australian history but there’s a huge bucketload of positive things in Australian history to celebrate and it’s a pity people like Stan Grant can’t celebrate those things.”
It was in Grant’ book, “The Queen is Dead”, published last week, that he criticised Abetz when he appeared on a Q+A episode following the Queen’s death last year.
“Tonight I find my anger rising,” he said in his book.
“The white politician (we have invited onto the show for balance) talks about “ugly scenes” in our history.”
On Saturday night live pictures of guests arriving at Westminster Abbey were overlaid with the ABC panel’s remarks on colonisation, and the republican movement in Australia.
Conversely, all three commercial networks, Ten, Nine and Seven, aired footage of guests arriving, but with live commentary on what was happening at the scene in London.
Seven’s coverage of the coronation won the ratings, followed by Nine and then the ABC.
Fernandez opened the panel discussion by asking what the “monarchy means to Australians, after excessive waves of invasion and immigration”.
Grant, a Wiradjuri, Gurrawin and Dharawal man, said there was immense pain felt by First Nations peoples because of colonisation by the British Empire, relaying stories about his own family including his grandfather who he said was jailed for speaking his own Indigenous language as a young boy.
“This is the real Australia, before we get to the fantasy Australia, the Disneyland Australia, let’s deal with the real Australia,” he said during the broadcast.
“Let’s not imagine that we can just look at this ceremony tonight and see this as something that is distant, that is just ceremonial and doesn’t hold weight.
“It is scars, it is broken bones and it is too many damaged souls and we need to heal.”
Indigenous businessman Warren Mundine, also a campaigner for a “no” vote for an Indigenous voice to parliament, said the ABC’s coverage was unacceptable.
“It’s a typical situation with the ABC, they are so biased and one-sided in every panel discussion,” he said.
“It was totally inappropriate and it was typical of the ABC thumbing their nose at most Australians who are out there who support the monarchy.”
As the ABC showed vision of hundreds of thousands of people pouring into The Mall in London and guests attending Westminster Abbey, Grant said the pain was immense.
“We read history through trauma … for us it is scars, it is broken bones and damaged souls and we need to heal,” Grant said.
He has previously spoken out about his betrayal by his ABC colleagues and management following the Queen’s death and said, “everyone donned black suits, everyone took on a reverential tone”.
In his book, The Queen is Dead, Grant referenced his “visceral anger” after the Queen’s death, and the ABC’s coverage of it.
Many viewers posted comments on the ABC’s Facebook page and Twitter as the coverage unfolded in real time, voicing their disgust at the lopsided coverage.
Indigenous lawyer Teela Reid, a Wiradjuri and Wailwan woman, said the coronation was an “elaborate spectacle for a symbol that represents an institution that perpetrated colonisation at the expense of First Nations people and people of colour”.
“These days are difficult to navigate for a nation that hasn’t surrendered its sovereignty to its lands,” she said.
“Many Indigenous leaders around the world have called for an apology from the monarchy as a result of the consequences of invasion and colonisation and the queen herself never apologised.”
The co-chair of the Australian Republican Movement, Craig Foster, also featured on the panel and said it was time for Australia to sever its ties with the monarchy.
“At the heart of the wound in this nation is the crown and yet the Crown has been above reproach,” he said.
“I think it’s incredibly important now to see that the Australian media and First Nations’ powerful voices … talk about their experience and upbringing.”
Mr Lesser, a supporter of the ‘yes’ vote in the upcoming referendum on an Indigenous voice to parliament, said the night was a time to “celebrate the British foundation of Australia”.
“We have the stability and continuity of the Crown and we are one of the sixth oldest continuous democracies in the world,” he said.
But Grant countered: “It’s not our continuity, it’s not our tradition, it’s not our stability, the Australia that Julian spoke about there, the Australia with an Indigenous heritage and a British foundation and the richness of the migrant experience, I don’t know where that Australia is.
“We haven’t lived in that Australia … Australia sought to erase the Indigenous heritage at the Federation discussions.
“It’s nice to talk about a fantasy Australia where we share multiple heritage and we live in this country where we are equal and we come to this equally, that’s an Australia I would love to believe in too.”
Fernandez wrapped up the hour-long panel show saying that the hour-long discussion was “really worthwhile”.
“It’s the sort of thing some people would suggest is not appropriate to be having on the day of the coronation,” he said.
Despite the criticisms the ABC defended its coverage of the coronation and said it had a diverse range of voices ahead of the official ceremony.
“Preceding the ceremonial events, as part of the comprehensive coverage ABC News canvassed an array of perspectives and views on the role of the monarch in 21st century Australia,” an ABC spokesman said.
“The role of the national broadcaster is to facilitate conversations that reflect the diversity of views in the community.
“Hearing from Indigenous Australians and reflecting on Australia’s history is an important part of this, especially as this year Australians will vote in a referendum on whether a First Nations Voice to Parliament should be included in the nation’s Constitution.”
The Australian directly approached ABC chairwoman Ita Buttrose for her view of the national broadcaster’s coverage of the event, given that she hosted three royal weddings across three TV networks during her career, and presided over The Australian Women’s Weekly’s coverage of the royals when editor-in-chief of the magazine from 1975-1981.
In an interview with The Australian in 2009, Buttrose told of meeting then Prince Charles in 1977, recalling that he was “charming … and much more fun than most people think”.
Buttrose referred questions from The Australian to an ABC spokesman.
Seven’s coronation coverage won the ratings battle on Saturday night, ahead of Nine, with ABC coming in third, according to OzTAM figures.