“Jacinta Nampijinpa Price,for instance,declined at least 52 interview requests with the ABC and did not agree to a single interview on a major broadcast program,” the report said. Major broadcast programs include any national show across radio or television.
In response,Price told this masthead in a statement that she and the No campaign had gone to great lengths to reach as many Australians as possible,but it was not her job to make herself available to the ABC “whenever it suited them”.
“My role in this campaign was to ask Australians to vote No to division,not boost the ratings of a failing activist ABC,” Price said on Monday.
Price did make some appearances on local ABC channels,including ABC Radio Adelaide in October,where she called the broadcaster’s approach hostile.
“My experiences with ABC interviews are often hostile,and I’m treated with contempt on many different platforms. Whether it’s ABC Breakfast,or whether it’s[Radio National],[Patricia] Karvelas and[Hamish] McDonald,they’re particularly hostile towards me,” she said at the time.
A lack of public advocacy was a feature of the No campaign’s media strategy the Referendum Coverage Review Committee report stated,with fewer high-profile individuals associating themselves with the campaign. There was also a deliberate push by No advocates to focus on social media and engage with “friendly broadcasters”,the report said.
‘My role in this campaign was to ask Australians to vote No to division,not boost the ratings of a failing activist ABC.’
Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price