ABC rejects claims its journalism contributed to antisemitism ahead of Royal Commission appearance

The ABC has rejected "claims that its journalism has contributed to antisemitism or social division" ahead of appearances by ABC and SBS executives at the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion on Thursday.

The public broadcasters are expected to be probed on allegations of bias in their reporting of events related to the Middle East.

Ahead of proceedings, the ABC issued a statement that said its "reporting has been evidence-based, fair, impartial and consistent with its Charter obligations".

The ABC's editorial director Gavin Fang and ombudsman Fiona Cameron will front the commission on Thursday morning.

They will be followed by SBS's director of Audio and Language Content David Thanh Man Tue Hua, director of News and Current Affairs Amanda Wicks and ombudsman Amy Stockwell.

Submissions 'highly critical of broadcasters'

The commission's current hearing block, being held in Sydney, is focusing on antisemitism and hate speech in the online environment and in traditional media and broadcasting.

In opening remarks last week, counsel assisting Richard Lancaster SC noted the ABC and SBS "occupy a particularly important, trusted position in the Australian media landscape".

Mr Lancaster said the organisations' "statutes, charters and policies commit them to high standards of accuracy, impartiality and balance".

He said the broadcasters would be asked about their policies and management of "allegations of antisemitism and the effectiveness of those measures".

"This will involve asking if there is any demonstrable antisemitic bias in the reporting of journalists or in the editorial policy in those media organisations."

Mr Lancaster told the commission that some of the submissions it received were "highly critical" of the coverage of the Middle East conflict by the ABC and SBS.

Submissions to the commission through its website have not yet been published, but a number of commission witnesses have been critical of the ABC in their testimony.

Speaking of her lived experience of antisemitism, Léa Levy, who emigrated to Australia from France in 2015, told the commission that during the Gaza war the ABC "never talked about Israelis' pain".

Former editor-in-chief of the Age newspaper Michael Gawenda claimed the ABC and other outlets "minimised antisemitism".

"They ran pieces by people who claimed that it was a concocted notion, this notion of antisemitism, done by a powerful lobby that was trying to cover up and silence criticism of Israel."

In its statement released on Wednesday evening, the ABC issued a strongly worded rebuttal of such claims.

"The ABC reporting has consistently centred on the experiences of Jewish Australians while providing context regarding broader social and political issues."

Complaints surge in wake of October 7

Australia's commercial networks have not been asked to appear at the commission, set up in the wake of last December's terrorist attack during a celebration of the Jewish holiday Hanukkah at Bondi Beach, in which 15 people were killed.

The ABC put questions to the royal commission on why only the ABC and SBS were being asked to appear.

In a statement, the commission said it had called on the ABC and SBS to give evidence "following concerns raised by members of Australia's Jewish community … about reporting sentiment and bias".

Commissioner Virginia Bell said in her remarks last week at the opening of block three that it was not the job of the commission "to resolve individual complaints".

The former High Court judge said the commission's focus was rather "on the adequacy of the broadcasters' complaint-handling mechanisms, including with respect to allegations of bias in the reporting of events in the Middle East relating to the state of Israel".

The ABC's coverage of the Middle East has seen a surge in the number of complaints lodged with the corporation's ombudsman.

These reached a peak in the months following the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and subsequent Gaza war.

In the 2023-24 year, the ABC reported receiving a five-year high of more than 7,000 complaints relating to content and editorial standards.

The broadcaster said almost half of these, 49 per cent, were attributable to the Israel-Gaza war.

In the year 2024-25, 4,192 content complaints were handled by the ABC ombudsman's office, 26 per cent of which were related to Middle East coverage.

The ABC said to date the ombudsman had recorded breaches for five instances of ABC coverage concerning the Middle East — four accuracy breaches in news content, including in an episode of triple j Hack, and breaches of impartiality and responsibility involving an episode of the Hip Hop Show on triple j.

The broadcaster said no complaints of bias had been upheld by the ombudsman in relation to ABC News coverage of the Middle East.

Difficulty of defining antisemitism

The ABC and SBS are also expected to be questioned at the commission on why they have decided not to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism.

The IHRA definition, stating that "antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred towards Jews", has been adopted by both the commission and the Australian government, but is a subject of controversy.

Detractors argue that it is used to stifle free speech and legitimate criticism.

The ABC and SBS have said they rely instead on their existing editorial guidelines on hate speech.

In its statement, the broadcaster said that while IHRA's core definition was broadly consistent with the ABC's approach, "the IHRA's examples are contested and there has been criticism that in some cases they risk conflating legitimate political criticism of Israel with antisemitism".

The Australian government's Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism, Jillian Segal, is a strong supporter of the IHRA definition of antisemitism and has consistently urged public institutions to adopt it.

The commission has called Ms Segal to speak to concerns about ABC and SBS coverage.

She is due to testify before the broadcasters when proceedings get underway at 10am AEST on Thursday.

Criticism from all sides

While the commission's focus will be on allegations of antisemitism, the broadcaster has also been accused of being overly sensitive to complaints from Jewish Australians.

In a damning judgement issued last September in the Antoinette Lattouf case, Judge Darryl Rangiah found the broadcaster had "let down the Australian public badly when it abjectly surrendered the right of its employee Ms Lattouf to appease a lobby group".

Justice Darryl found Ms Lattouf was unlawfully terminated when she was taken off-air in response to what he described as "an orchestrated campaign by pro-Israel lobbyists".

According to the ABC, in the six months to December 2025, 51 per cent of complaints claimed the ABC's Israel-Gaza coverage was broadly pro-Palestinian and 47 per cent claimed it was broadly pro-Israel.

The broadcaster said, "this indicates that perceptions of bias are arising from strongly held views across the community rather than systematic editorial favouritism".