ABC’s Mark Scott apologises to commentator Chris Kenny
ABC managing director Mark Scott
Mark Scott, managing director of the ABC, has today apologised to outspoken commentator Chris Kenny over an episode of The Chaser’s The Hamster Decides which featured a manipulated image of Kenny having intercourse with a dog.
The ABC boss has consistently refused to apologise for the incident but last year did label the broadcast “tasteless”.
Kenny, who is associate editor of The Australian and an ardent critic of the public broadcaster has consistently demanded an apology and launched defamation proceedings against the ABC which began in the Supreme Court last month.
However, in statement today Scott said: “I wish to apologise to Mr Chris Kenny for the controversial ‘The Hamster Decides’ skit run by ABC-TV in September last year… I have come to the view with theDirector of Television that the ABC should not have put the skit to air.
“Having reviewed the issue, in my opinion it falls short of the quality demanded by our audience and normally delivered by our programming. While Mr Kenny is a strong and persistent critic of the ABC, and can expect to be a subject of satire, the depiction of him was very strong in the context of the satirical point attempted.
“As a consequence, I would like to apologise to Mr Kenny for the ABC having put the skit to air, his depiction in the skit and because it was triggered by his criticism of the ABC. I am sorry for the distress this incident has caused him and his family. I have also called Mr Kenny today to convey this apology and put it in writing to him.”
Kenny told Mumbrella: “It’s taken seven months but I was pleased to finally get a call and an apology from Mark Scott today.
“I have instructed my lawyers to try to settle this matter as soon as possible.”
The ABC’s apology to Kenny comes amid the ongoing defamation suit against the ABC, production house Giant Dwarf and the presenter of the segment Andrew Hansen. Kenny has previously said apology from the ABC would have avoided the need for litigation.
It also comes as the media watch dog the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) investigates whether the satirical segment breached the ABC’s code of practice. The ACMA said it was considering the matter.
Nic Christensen
The ABC’s full statement:
Apology to Mr Chris Kenny
I wish to apologise to Mr Chris Kenny for the controversial ‘The Hamster Decides’ skit run by ABC-TV in September last year.
At the time of broadcast, I described the skit as tasteless and undergraduate, but noted that it raised questions about the nature of satire and the boundaries of free speech afforded to satirists, comedians and cartoonists.
The audience of The Chaser expect fierce, robust and irreverent satire. Final decision-making on what goes to air, however, rests with the ABC.
There are different matters at stake here: whether the ABC should have made the editorial decision to broadcast the skit and separately, whether broadcasting such a skit was within the ABC’s editorial guidelines for satire and offence. Mr Kenny’s decision to take legal action on the grounds of defamation is also a separate matter.
Notwithstanding any ACMA finding however, I have come to the view with theDirector of Television that the ABC should not have put the skit to air.
Having reviewed the issue, in my opinion it falls short of the quality demanded by our audience and normally delivered by our programming. While Mr Kenny is a strong and persistent critic of the ABC, and can expect to be a subject of satire, the depiction of him was very strong in the context of the satirical point attempted.
As a consequence, I would like to apologise to Mr Kenny for the ABC having put the skit to air, his depiction in the skit and because it was triggered by his criticism of the ABC. I am sorry for the distress this incident has caused him and his family. I have also called Mr Kenny today to convey this apology and put it in writing to him.
While I had been waiting for internal and ACMA review processes to be completed before issuing this statement, I now believe that was a mistake and I regret the delay in making this apology.
Mark Scott
ABC Managing Director
I hope they apologised to the dog, too.
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Sums up the ABC…….
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About time, but better late than never.
Hopefully this serves as a lesson for the ABC that even if the subject is (in their opinion) an evil conservative, there are certain things they’re simply not above.
…but don’t count on it.
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Kenny is suing the ABC, and rightly so. No doubt the ABC’s lawyers told the MD him to make the belated apology to try and mitigate the fallout, and the payout. I like the Chaser boys, but it was juvenile stuff which was just asking for trouble, and they got in the form of a defo writ.
Hopes that we have seen the end of garbage like this have been dashed by the news that the ABC has a head of comedy and a unit that spends its time thinking up new ideas for comedy programs. Hopefully this nonsense will be the first to go when the ABC cuts are implemented.
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I thought Julian morrows response to Mark Scott was awesome…
https://twitter.com/julesmorrow/status/455530930308800512/photo/1
Maybe Mark Scott will get all butt hurt and start complaining about how he is scarred by this process and how his children will “grow up searching google and finding such disgusting images of himself”.
BTW – Hey “Private Equity” what do you mena by “sums up the ABC”?
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I find today’s announcement from ABC Top Dog, Mark Scott to be too little & too late.
The $1.03 Billion question is who will be replacing Scott as ABC MD next year ?
I suggest it should be Chris Kenny.
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BS. He’s not sorry at all. I’m so over the ABC. I hope Hockey inflicts a killer blow to it.
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Scott’s a poor leader. If this is the correct answer, it should have happened weeks ago. Now it looks like he’s caved in to bullying from Kenny and his mates. In fact Scott’s thumb-sucking has allowed the Oz, Kenny etc to appear morally superior, which is itself a travesty.
The missing part of the ABC is clear leadership that drives strong programming and inhibits childishness and indulgences (such as this week’s awful 4 Corners take on industry issues). If Scott was a leader, the Chaser mistake would not have made it to air, had it been filmed at all.
Bring back Brian Johns.
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Reply to Mel : –
A while ago I had cause to make an official complaint to The ABC concerning the telephonic manner of one of its staff.
I engaged an ABN2 News Reporter on the subject of one of her reports dealing with the alleged effects of Anthropological Climate Change broadcast on a 7pm bulletin.
After a number of minutes of debate she unceremoniously hung up her telephone !
The response I received via e-mail was a corker !
The most offensive thing I found with that complaint was to be asked to take part in an ABC survey regarding complaints.
I totally ignored that pithy e-mail.
Not only does The ABC need to bare the cost of the coming austerity measures facing us all, it needs to have a complaint system totally independent from itself.
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Reply to Spinned Out : –
My Dear Old Mum worked for a time at The ABC in the fifties.
Sir Charles Moses was MD then.
I recall her occasionally quipping in her twilight years that if anyone could part The Red Sea of The ABC mind set of today, it would have been Sir Charles.
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Correction to my first post here.
Mark Scott’s tenure as MD of The ABC ends in 2016 not next year.
Unless of course The Board does a Jonathan Shier on him.
Obviously an unlikely prospect.
At the very least The Government can appoint a successor in a scheduled election year.
I’d still like that successor to be Chris Kenny.
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