Read scathing smackdown of’ ABC’s ‘deeply offensive’ comparison of Alice Springs to Ku Klux Klan

The ABC chief has been accused of arrogance by a liberal senator in a scathing letter of complaint about the national broadcaster’s terribly “skewed” news reporting in Alice Springs.

He has also been criticized for failing to apologize for a segment on ABC’s The Drum that compared a crisis meeting in the troubled inner city to a Ku Klux Klan meeting.

In the two-page letter obtained by Daily Mail Australia, Senator Sarah Henderson criticizes managing director David Anderson for trying to defend ABC’s patchy coverage before grudgingly offering an apology ‘at the end of the day’.

“ABC’s first response was irresponsible, deeply flawed, arrogant and reflected very poorly on you as editor-in-chief,” the senator and former ABC journalist wrote.

“It showed that ABC either did not understand or was not prepared to acknowledge its obligation to all Australians to report the news accurately and fairly.”

The senator called out ABC chief David Anderson, saying his apology was “irresponsible, deeply flawed, arrogant and reflected very badly on you.”

The scathing letter followed a public outcry over a radio report by Indian Affairs reporter Carly Williams portraying 3,000 Alice Springs residents who attended a crisis meeting as “white supremacists.”

Senator Henderson also highlighted an additional report, which he did not apologize for or mention, comparing Alice Springs to a fictional American town of Hollywood where the white American Ku Klux Klan hate group murdered three American civil rights activists.

“I note that ABC made no reference… to the inflammatory, inaccurate and deeply offensive comments of a guest on The Drum who compared the Alice Springs gathering to… the institutional racism of a city’s residents, including members of the Ku Klux Klan,’ wrote the senator.

Addressing Mr Anderson personally, Senator Henderson made it clear that she would still lodge a formal complaint with the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), despite their apologies.

Senator Henderson’s letter criticizes ABC, calling the station’s comparison of Alice Springs residents to Ku Klux Klan members “deeply offensive.”

The Senator was particularly critical of Mr. Anderson’s ‘deeply flawed’ defense of Ms. Williams’ reports.

He then noted that ABC issued a second response “late in the day…on its Corrections and Clarifications website” that acknowledged that the report “should have included a broader range of perspectives.”

But in that response, ABC made no reference to Ms Williams’ story “or the inflammatory, inaccurate and deeply offensive comments” from The Drum guest Nareen Young.

Professor of Indigenous Politics at Sydney University of Technology, Ms Young had compared the Alice Springs meeting to the movie Mississippi Burning.

The letter says ABC failed to acknowledge that it had compared Alice Springs (above) to the US city where the white US hate group Ku Klux Klan murdered three US civil rights activists.

The 1988 film is based on the real-life Ku Klux Klan murders of two African-American and one Jewish activist whose bodies were dumped in the Mississippi River, sparking national outrage in the US in 1964.

Referring to Carly Williams’s report of the Alice Springs meeting, Professor Young told The Drum that “if you saw that room in the Mississippi Burning, for example, Australians would say ‘what a terrible, oh that’s terrible that happens in there’.” .

“The vitriol and the racism and the lack of consideration and respect for those people on their land while those people lived off the bounty of it was appalling.”

In her letter, Senator Henderson said Williams’ report “did not include any details of the escalating violence in Alice Springs, the deep-rooted safety concerns of thousands of local residents, the support that many Traditional Owners gave the meeting, and . .. Discussed Social Behavior’.

“ABC must explain… their first response and why the report inexplicably remains online… which is deaf to ABC’s faults and completely unacceptable,” he wrote.

ABC described the Alice Springs audience (above) of concerned families, business owners, indigenous leaders, health and emergency service workers as “white supremacists.”

The senator described as “garbage reporting” ABC reporter Carly Williams’ (pictured) report that the meeting was “a disgusting display of white supremacy.”

‘I will ask ACMA to investigate whether ABC has violated its Code.

‘As the Code states, “ABC belongs to the Australian people. Earning and retaining their trust is essential to complying with ABC’s charter (to provide services) to a high standard for Australian and international audiences.”

Senator Henderson, who once worked as a consumer reporter at ABC and anchored at 7:30 in Victoria, described the station’s coverage as ‘garbage reporting’.

Thousands of fed up residents turned out for the Save Alice Springs rally on January 30 after intense media focus on the city’s battle against a crime crisis.

The audience at the town hall meeting included concerned families, business owners, indigenous leaders, health and emergency service workers, and police officers.

Since Prime Minister Anthony Albanese paid a quick visit to the town in January, the Northern Territory Government has reinstated alcohol restrictions banning takeaway sales in central Australian communities, including Alice Town campgrounds. Springs.