Project host Sarah Harris has publicly apologized for the show that inaccurately depicted a peaceful Pro-Palestinian rally as a violent event, using footage from another protest.
On Sunday night’s broadcast, Harris spoke about a rally in Melbourne where thousands of people marched in support of Palestine and Lebanon amid ongoing conflict with Israel.
The largely peaceful demonstration included speeches and the placing of paper fliers outside the city library bearing the names of children killed in Palestine over the past year.
However, the video showed images of protesters setting trash bins on fire and police wearing gas masks, helmets and riot gear.
These images come from a violent protest against an arms fair that took place on September 11.
Harris apologized to viewers on air for the mischaracterization of the meeting.
“We need to correct an error that aired Sunday night,” Harris said.
‘Our story about a rally in Melbourne included several seconds of footage of a completely different protest.
Project co-host Sarah Harris apologized to viewers after the program aired false footage of a peaceful Pro-Palestinian rally as a violent protest.
The Project used footage from a violent demonstration against an arms fair in September and merged it with the weekend’s largely peaceful protest
‘This was a mistake and risked mischaracterization of the day’s events, which should never have happened.
‘It was not intentional and we apologize. We are reviewing processes to ensure this does not happen again.”
Mediawatch presenter Paul Barry called out the network for the blunder.
“The project took footage of that weapons expo protest and merged it with the pro-Palestinian rally.
‘And in doing so he completely misrepresented what happened. Secretly, eh, or incompetent.’
In a statement, the network apologized for the blunder.
‘Archive footage was wrongly used in a report broadcast on The Sunday Project on peaceful pro-Palestinian protests.
“Once this error was confirmed, the report was removed from all platforms.
‘We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused viewers.’