The ABC’s news chief hit the airwaves this afternoon to defend television presenter Stan Grant,and he said he hopes theQ&Ahost’s departure won’t be permanent.
ABC news director Justin Stevens told ABC Melbourne radio that Grant was an “incredible journalist” and the invitation was there for him to return to hostingQ&Ashould he want to.
“He is keen for a break,he wants a rest and to spend time with his family,” Stevens said. “We totally respect and understand that.Q&A is due to have a few more episodes after this week,and then it’s got a mid-season break,and then we’ll return.
“We just want to give him space and time to try and have a breather from this. Hopefully,he’ll return after the mid-season,but we don’t want to put him under any extra pressure at the moment.”
Grant,a Wiradjuri man,faced a barrage of criticism including racist abuse for his comments offering a First Nations perspective during the coronation coverage.
Stevens said the “complete pile-on” against Grant came from both traditional news outlets with an anti-ABC agenda and social media.
“There are sections of the media,particularly in News Limited,that will do anything they can to campaign against the ABC,” he said.
“We can’t be beyond scrutiny. In fact,we welcome it. But this is clearly a concerted campaign to chip away at the ABC and people’s sense of trust in it.”
Stevens said Grant was invited to be a commentator on the coronation coverage,and he was a “reluctant participant” for 40-45 minutes of the coverage,which was the only part of the eight-hour broadcast to reflect on First Nations perspectives.
He defended the broadcast as fulfilling the ABC’s role as a national broadcaster.
“This was a different dynamic to the Queen dying last year:no one was mourning and no one had died,” Stevens said.
“This was a moment for us to do what we do as the national broadcaster,which is to facilitate conversations which are at times uncomfortable for viewers and listeners.
“It’s not our role to shy away from[the conversations],and it’s ingrained in our charter to provide different perspectives.”
Meanwhile,Stevens said social media had “given a platform for people to air completely toxic,disgusting,often illegal comments about individuals that work for us”.
He said the ABC had put out statements when sports presenter Tony Armstrong was subject to “vile racist abuse” andNews Breakfast host Lisa Millar for her “months and months of disgusting trolling”.
He said the decision was always awkward because putting out a statement also risked that it would draw attention to anonymous comments and “throw fuel on the fire”.
But Stevens said it was the wrong call not to directly put out a statement on Grant,and he had personally apologised for it. Stevens said he “regretted not doing this sort of interview 10 days ago”.